A Certain Date Auction
by Tk Macintosh
Summary: When Academy City funds run low, there may be one way to raise them back up...
1. Plans, Ideas, and Beginnings

Welcome one and all to my new TAMnI index fic! I really do hope that you enjoy this fic. This fic IS a sequal to my previous Index fic, "A Certain Adult Film", though it may not become that prominent until later on .

So eitherway! I do hope that you leave a review for it cause as always...Reviews are nice and allow me to see how well it goes for people that do read it.

As usual, I do not (nor will I EVER) own the To Aru Majutsu no Index/To Aru Kagaku no Railgun series.

I would like to extend a warm thank you to my 3 Betas: Random_Dood, Reikson (from the TFF forums), and Flere821 as well as TFF itself for being the first group of people that see this story and gauging it for everyone else. All 3 have helped me get this thing in shape and ready to go for you all.

So now...sit back and enjoy the story folks!

* * *

><p>Aleister Crowley was not a happy…being. Money was tight for him. World War Three had drastically drained his funds and if he didn't find a new source of money quickly, he wouldn't have enough to fund his plans.<p>

'_What am I going to do now?'_ Crowley thought to himself as he floated in his tube. _'How am I going to complete my plans if I don't have enough money?'_

His eyes drifted over the many screens around him. Each screen showed him something different, ranging from reports to various footages from the surveillance cameras he had linked to here. Finally, he stopped on the screen with his email.

Most of the messages were useless to him. Most of them asking for more money, others asking for permission on things, as well as reports and miscellaneous things were sent to him daily, hourly almost. He quickly began to delete most of them finding them to be useless to him in the long run.

Although…

Looking back on this event, Crowley would never be sure as to why this particular email intrigued him so much. Maybe it was a whim, but whatever the reason, he opened the email.

'_You have been graciously invited!_

_Dear Superintendent of Academy City,_

_ You have been graciously been invited to Tokyo's first annual Date Auction. Times have been tough lately and the city needs all the help it can get. We would be most grateful if you would join us for the most fun night in ages…'_

Crowley hastily deleted the email not even bothering to read the rest of it.

Although…the idea of a date auction did have a certain appeal to it.

…Yes…that's it.

That's how he would gather his necessary funds. He would auction off people for dates for money and if he kept it to Academy City, it wouldn't affect his plans in the slightest.

Crowley felt the beginnings of a smirk crawling onto his face as he began to draw up his plans. First off, who would be the bulk of this auction? Considering his options, the androgynous man decided that both Anti-Skill and Judgement would be sufficient. He knew that while both groups would be fine, he knew he would need bigger bait to reel in the other fish.

Contemplating for several minutes, he mused that there was no bigger bait than the city's seven Level 5's. Crowley's eyes slowly drifted to the fridge hooked up to the various cables, well…maybe six.

'_Hmm…maybe I should involve Imagine Breaker in this?'_ Crowley thought as he finished drawing up the plans. _'I'll put him on the back burner for now.'_

With that last thought in mind, and with his finely-cultured sense of schadenfreude in full bloom, Crowley let the smirk he'd been fighting off crawl onto his face as he emailed out his exact instructions to everyone that would set this thing in motion.

_Subject: Plans for Date Auction_

_-To all that receive this email,_

_ Academy City MUST regain its municipal funding, independently of our annual federal budget. To that end, the following plan must be executed EXACTLY as written. That way, Academy City will recoup its independent funding quite evenly._

The email continued on to explain the specific roles that each of the various Resource Departments would have to do.

Of course, this was met with complaints, but Crowley simply responded that this was for the good of Academy City.

* * *

><p>So when the time came for it to be announced, the heads of both Anti-Skill and Judgement were both understandably worried.<p>

"You know that they won't take this well right?" Kamatsu Takeru, the Director of Judgement, mumbled as he held his head in his hands.

"I know, I know, we'll just have to grit our teeth and hope for the best." Toujou Kenji, the Chief of Anti-Skill, offered as he leaned against the wall, a cup of coffee in his hand. "You and I both know that there isn't much we can do. If we don't want to stretch our budget any further, then we need to do this."

Kenji sighed as he finished his coffee in one go.

"At least we don't have to try and negotiate with the Level 5's." Takeru noted with a small smirk.

Kenji chuckled softly.

"That'd be a nightmare." He mused aloud. Popping his neck, he added," I don't envy those guys one bit." Glancing at the nearby clock, he noted. "I guess it's time to go let them know."

With that said both men rose and gave each other a quick handshake.

"After we're done here, let's hit the bar, ok?" Kenji proposed.

"That sounds good to me." Takeru shrugged. "I heard that there's a new one on the corner of Thirty-Second and Twelfth." The both of them knew that there would be of headaches to follow in the coming weeks, and drinks would help alleviate their problems somewhat. So Kenji nodded his head in agreement.

Both Takeru and Kenji sighed deeply as they went to their respective rooms, hoping they would both make it through the day.

* * *

><p>Kamatsu Takeru took a deep breath as he made his way to the podium in front of all the other members of Judgement that gathered today. Each one of them staring at him, Takeru felt slightly unnerved at their wide eyed stares.<p>

He could do this, he kept telling himself. He would get through this without injury and without causing a riot. When he was done here, he would go and buy himself the biggest mug of beer he could get his hands on.

"Ahem…" Takeru began by clearing his throat. "As you know Academy City has fallen on hard times recently. Because of these hard times, budgets have been tight for the entire city, for both Judgement and Anti-Skill in particular."

Amidst the murmurs and the affirming nods, he continued on. "So to fix these problems, Academy City's Superintendant has proposed a fundraising event. This event…is a Date Auction." Takeru finished taking a deep breath to calm himself. The first half was done, but now onto the real mountain.

Taking a look around the room, he heard the hushed whispers of everyone as they tried to figure out who would be in the auction. Raising a hand to call attention back to himself, the room fell silent once more.

"Now some of you may be wondering who is going to be featured in this auction, but I'm sure some of you may have already guess who." As angry yells of indignation quickly rose up across the room, Takeru shouted, "Judgement **WILL** be participating!"

Before a mob could explode into a full-blown riot, Takeru quickly brought the room back under his control. "Now now, let's all calm down." He shouted to his subordinates, hoping to calm them. "I know that most, if not all, of you are upset. It's understandable, but you don't have to worry."

When they finally calmed down enough to look at him, he quickly added, "It is not JUST Judgement that'll be joining in. Both Anti-Skill and the City's Level 5's will be participating as well."

This seemed to quiet down the crowd somewhat, though every now and then an 'Hmmph!' of indignation rang out.

"Now, I'm willing to take any questions you may have, and I will try to answer them to the best of my ability." Takeru said in hopes of not setting off any hair triggers in the crowd.

Several groups began to talk over each other, chatter filling the hall. Seeing several hands go up at once, Takeru pointed out the first hand he saw with a nod of his head.

"Yes umm…what are the criteria for participating?" A female Judgement asked; a slightly worried look on her face.

"Well the very minimum is that the person CANNOT be married." Takeru answered calmly as groups of people groaned in disappointment. "Other requirements will be sent out by email. Next question please."

Pointing to another random hand, he nodded his head once more.

"How does it work?" Some random male member demanded. "Can a single bidder attempt to win more than one date? Can several bidders join together to bid on one person?"

Takeru sighed as he pulled out the notes he had printed earlier from his jacket. Going through them quickly, he cleared his throat once more.

"According to the notes the Superintendant created, the rules state: 'As long as the Bidder has money, he/she may continue to bid on multiple people even if that Bidder has already won a date.' As for multiple bidders…" Takeru trailed off as he scanned the notes in his hands, even as his audience began to murmur amongst themselves once more.

Quickly finding what he was looking for, he turned back to the microphone in front of him. "It says for multiple bidders…'Multiple bidders may group together to outbid the highest bid and bidder.' I take it you want to know about if you have to date each of the bidders?" Takeru asked as he looked up.

A nod of agreement was all he got from the people in front of him.

"Well, according to these notes, you'll have to date each of the bidders one-on-one, and no group dates will be allowed." With this final pronouncement of doom, several groups of people groaned in defeat.

"Are there any other questions?" Takeru asked once more, hoping that it would be over rather quickly. Sadly for him, several more hands shot up again. Quickly pointing to the first hand he saw once more. "Yes?"

"Can anybody bid on anyone or is it gender restricted?"

"Good question," Takeru mused along as he went back to his notes once more. "Hmm…it doesn't say anything about it being gender restricted, so I would assume that it's open to everyone who wants to bid."

Shirai Kuroko was a very bored and somewhat upset Oujou-sama at the moment. What person wouldn't be when they found that they were going to be sold like cattle for dates? If anything, she hoped she would be able to get of this.

"So you said that the Level 5's were participating…Do you know which ones are going to joining?" another voice asked loudly, causing her to perk up slightly. Did she dare hope…?

Kuroko was on the edge of her seat as she listened intently. If the Level 5's were participating, then maybe just maybe she'd get the chance to bid on, and win, her Onee-sama! Kuroko gave Takeru her full attention in hopes that her dreams weren't shattered.

"Well, we're not sure who is going to be there," Takeru muttered distractedly, wiping the sweat off his forehead. "Though I'm sure Gunha-san will be there. I also heard they would also try and get…Tokiwadai's Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki. So when we find out who is joining up, we will let you all know."

Kuroko was in pure heaven when they mentioned that Misaka may end up participating. A chance to go on a date with her precious Onee-sama? She wouldn't miss this chance for the world.

"Well, if no one else has any further questions, then you're all dismissed. I hope you all have a nice day." Takeru said as he left the stage mumbling to himself. He needed a drink. Badly.

* * *

><p>Kuroko sighed deeply as she took a seat in her chair at her desk in the 144th Branch Office. Uiharu was humming away happily as she made tea acting like she didn't have a care in the world.<p>

"How can you be so calm Uiharu?" Kuroko wondered. "We just found out that we're going to be sold off for dates." The teleporter had no ideas on how Uiharu could remain so calm after such news.

"It's not that I'm afraid or mad," The girl with the flowery headband shrugged "A little upset yes, but when I think of what could happen, I can't help but get a little excited."

Kuroko quirked an eyebrow, so Uiharu explained, "What if I get to go on a date with a cool looking Senpai?"

Then she became starry-eyed at an image only she could see. "Or maybe I'll get an amazing and adventurous Senpai!"

Dissolving into giggles at whatever she was seeing, Uiharu concluded with, "The possibilities are endless, Shirai-san."

Kuroko could only stare at Uiharu, a blank look on her face. The teleporter sighed as she shook her head at her friend's antics.

"Or…" Kuroko deadpanned." …you could get a brutish knuckle-dragging ape that only cares for your looks." Her eyebrow twitching as she tried to ignore Uiharu's incessant giggling.

"Hehe…you mean like a tough street smart Senpai? That would awesome Shirai-san." Uiharu said still in her own delusional world. By this point, she was surrounded by sparkling lights.

Kuroko groaned in exasperation ready to try again to snap her friend out of her own delusional world.

"Why don't you just let her enjoy her own little world, Shirai-san? I'm sure she'll come back to us on her own soon enough." Konorii Mii said placidly as she sat down on the branch's couch having just returned from her own errands after the meeting.

Kuroko sighed loudly as she let her head hit the table with an audible smack as Uiharu placed a cup of tea next to her before handing Konorii a cup as well.

"How do you feel about this Konorii-Senpai?" Kuroko asked not even bothering to lift her head from the desk. The bespectacled teen paused, lost in thought for a while..

"Well…" she hemmed and hawed as she tried to find the right words. "…I think…it'll be fun." She finally decided, smiling softly.

"You think so too, Konorii-Senpai?" Both Kuroko and Uiharu asked in unison. Although each had completely different feelings put into their answers; Kuroko in disbelief and Uiharu with a great deal of hope.

"Fun? Fun!" Kuroko exploded. "How can this end in nothing BUT disaster?" She wasn't sure how this could be fun.

"Well Shirai-san, half the fun is guessing what type of date you may end up having." Konorii said with a gentle smile hoping to cool Kuroko down in some way.

"Yeah Shirai-san, with it open to anyone, you could even end up on a date with Misaka-san." Uiharu offered hopefully.

That seemed to stop Kuroko dead in her tracks. "That's right…" the aggressive teleporter murmured to herself as she thought back to the meeting. "Anyone could bid on any person up for auction."

'_A…date…with Onee-sama?'_ Kuroko thought to herself. She could see it now…candles, a fancy dinner for two…more and more images came to her mind as a blush and a creepy smile crawled onto her face.

"Hehehe…" Kuroko giggled both happily and creepily. "I'll do it! This Shirai Kuroko will get a date with Onee-sama!"

Having made her declaration, Kuroko began to cackle madly. Her pigtails began to wigglein time with her wildly-flexing fingers.

Uiharu and Konorii could only chuckle weakly as the two turned to one another and began to chat about not only the upcoming event, but work as well.

* * *

><p>Crowley floated in his tube quietly, his eyes drifting over the various screens in front of him. He read each report quickly carefully making sure to pick out the important parts.<p>

If the reports were right then everything was going according to schedule and on time which was always a satisfying result.

But he WAS bothered by something.

He didn't know that Anti-Skill had so many members that were married, which effectively disqualified them from participating in the Date Auction fundraiser event.

This mean he had to come up with something quick.

If he wanted this to succeed, he would need more people. Maybe it was time to open it to the public. Though if DID open it to the public, he doubted more people would sign up if it –JUST- for the city, even though supporting the city was a good cause by itself.

Maybe, and as much as he hated to admit it, he should donate some of the funds to some place in Academy City in an attempt to attract the more sympathetic groups…

'_But where?'_ Crowley thought to himself as he looked over the various groups in Academy City. He found himself smiling faintly once he landed on the perfect group. _'Excellent. The Child Errors will do. They'll bring in the biggest group of sympathizers.'_

With a flick of his eyes, he quickly sent out a new email informing people of the new addition to his plans.

'_There, that should do it. Now…I think it's time to bring Imagine Breaker into the equation.' _Crowley thought to himself as he dialed an all too familiar number. It only rang twice before it was answered.

"_Hello Crowley, what do you need?"_ The insincere voice of Tsuchimikado Motoharu rang out throughout his chamber. Crowley could hear the all too fake cheer in his voice and could easily picture that ever persistent smirk on the young double agent's face.

"Ah, Tsuchimikado, I take you've heard of my most recent plan?" Crowley said bluntly. He didn't have time for pleasantries. Especially not when there were things that needed planning and plans that needed things.

"_Your date auction?_" the blond magician answered "_Yeah, I know about it. Why?"_

"Well, I have opened registration to all of Academy City and I would like you to-"

"_No way am I going to sign up for this Crowley."_

"As expected, but if you would've let me_ finish_…" The magician turned scientist said calmly, though there was a faint trace of anger in his voice. "…I was going to say I want you to sign up Imagine Breaker for my date auction."

"_Kami-yan?_" Crowley could almost taste Tsuchimikado's wary confusion."_You want me to sign up Kami-yan for your ridiculous date auction?"_

"That is correct." Crowley said coolly, knowing that the Necessarius double-agent could never pass up the chance to screw with Imagine Breaker's head.

Tsuchimikado smirked as evil thoughts swelled up in his mind. Oh yes…another chance to screw with Kami-yan for that ONE thing. He would do this job with not only pride, but with joy as well.

"All right Crowley," Tsuchimikado sniggered. "I'll do your job. He'll be in by Tuesday."

Hanging up quickly, Tsuchimikado smirked as he put his phone away. Oh this job was going to be -_BEAUTIFUL_-. It was another chance for revenge and a good chance to see Touma flounder around again, which was always good for a laugh or two.

He wasn't going to pass this up for anything. Well…almost anything.

The following morning, Tsuchimikado, after having a delicious breakfast with his wonderful little sister, went down to the registration building and got the registration form for Touma. He quickly filled out everything on the form with pleasure.

Sadly, there was one thing stopping him from turning it in right then and there. What stopped him was the fact that he would need Touma's signature on it to be official. The blond magician might have been a good forger at times, but right now….having Touma sign his own death sentence would just make this all the more sweeter when things finally came to a head.

Thinking that it shouldn't be too hard to get Touma to sign it, Tsuchimikado pocketed the form and left the building making his way to school.

"Today's gonna be fun." Tsuchimikado declared to himself, grinning madly.

As he left the building, he never saw Maika make her way into the very same building he had just left just mere moments ago.

The day crept by exceedingly slow for the blonde magician. Too slow for his tastes; he already had a plan in place to use on Touma, but time just wouldn't go quickly.

'_Why couldn't time move faster?'_ He complained mentally. Groaning internally, he knew that all he could do was to wait for time to fly by.

When the bell for lunch FINALLY rang, he moved to go and talk to Touma. But as luck would have it, Touma left the room saying something about buying bread from the school store.

Tsuchimikado sighed softly as he took his seat once more. There went his carefully constructed plan.

Maybe he could think up another one for when Touma did come back.

As he sat there, lost in his contemplations, Aogami Pierce watched his blonde friend with an eyebrow raised inquisitively.

"So what's going on with you, Tsuchimikado?" The blue-haired pervert asked as he approached his friend's desk.

"Nothing much really, just trying to figure out something." Tsuchimikado replied with a sigh as he leaned back in his seat looking to the ceiling.

Nothing was coming to him.

Why in the world couldn't he figure out a new plan to use on Touma? Then a sudden thought came to him as he looked over at his friend.

Why not bring Aogami into this plan as well?

Maybe the two of them could come up with something.

He figured Aogami would be more than willing to help him out there.

Tsuchimikado chuckled softly as he made up his mind.

"Hey Aogami…" He began slyly, leaning forward in his seat. "How well can you keep a secret?"

But even as he asked the blue-haired teen, the blond spy felt the need to kick himself for asking such a stupid question.

After all, Aogami and secrets were not the greatest mix in the world.

"Why?" The pervert asked as he raised an eyebrow slightly in challenge.

"Well…" Tsuchimikado smirked. "You know about that Date Auction that's in about two week's right?"

"…Yeah." The 2-D otaku nodded warily.

"I was thinking of entering Kami-yan into the auction, but there's a slightly problem." Tsuchimikado explained as he pulled the near completed registration form from his pocket. "I just need his signature in order to sign him up. Do you think you could help me get him to sign it?"

Aogami stared at the form briefly before nodding his head slowly.

"Why in the world would you sign him up for it? We already have to worry about him here at school, why would you unleash him onto the world?" While he was excited at the prospect of throwing Touma into a den of lions once more, Aogami couldn't help but be worried that the date auction would reveal that every girl in Academy City, and not just their school, would want its unluckiest boy.

"Because I thought it'd be fun." Tsuchimikado replied, as serene as if he was explaining why the sun was shining outside right now.

"I know that you can forge signatures," Aogami questioned as he stared at the sheet."The only question that remains is why you are so adamant about having Touma sign this himself."

"Having Kami-yan sign the sheet himself would make it so much more sweeter than having someone forge his signature and catching him off guard. Admittedly, that's fun, but…" Tsuchimikado said trailing off with a small smirk on his face.

Aogami stared at the sheet and his friend briefly before nodding his head once more.

"All right Tsuchimikado," the 2-D otaku decided smirking. "I'll help you out."

"Great thanks man." Tsuchimikado said grinning as he patted his friends back. It was then that the door opened once again, Touma walked in having finished his lunch from the school store.

Aogami smirked, a plan already forming his head, as he grabbed the registration form, a blank sheet of paper, and a clipboard. Quickly scribbling something at the top of the blank sheet of paper, he made his way over to Touma's desk.

"Hey Kami-yan, would you mind signing this?" Aogami said as he held the clipboard out to Touma, a cheerful smile on his face. Touma glanced at his perverted friend's face, knowing that smile could either be the most dangerous face his friend had or it was the look of someone who was truly happy about something. The unlucky boy warily took the clipboard from him, deciding to see what his friend was asking him to sign before doing anything.

"This is a… 'Petition to change the nurse's outfit to a bunny girl costume'…?" Touma asked wryly as he read the heading. Looking up at his friend, he asked, "… Are you serious, Aogami?"

Not for the first time, he wondered if the boy with the piercings had been dropped on his head as baby. This sounded too good to be true and, for Touma, it always ended badly for him when anything made him think like that.

"Absolutely!" Aogami exclaimed proudly. "Here at school, wouldn't the sight of a beautiful nurse dressed in a dazzling bunny girl outfit tending to us make us feel a whole lot better?" He rhetorized loudly.

Just as he planned, several classmates had turned their heads to stare at the spectacle that he was making of himself. "Just think of the possibilities Kami-yan!" Aogami explained, clenching his fists in excitement. "It might make the trips to the nurse's office much more bearable."

Touma could only stare in confusion at Aogami as he took in Aogami's speech.

He DID think that the blue-haired pervert was making a lot of sense, though. If he was tended to by a beautiful bunny girl nurse, then any trips to the nurse's office, or the hospital, would make it a lot more bearable. Touma slowly nodded as he grabbed his pencil.

"All right, I'll sign it." Touma said as he looked at the sheet. Seeing a red 'x' down towards the bottom, he quickly signed his name there before handing the clipboard back to Aogami.

"Thanks Kami-yan." Aogami said grinning. "I'm sure we'll get this through soon." He quickly signed his own name on the blank sheet above Touma's own signature.

The minute he'd turned his back on Touma, though, the blue-haired boy smirked broadly as he made his way back to Tsuchimikado and handed both sheets to the blonde magician.

"And that's how you get Kami-yan to sign." Aogami said his body language screaming pride.

Tsuchimikado was flabbergasted at the ease with which Aogami had gotten Touma to sign registration sheet. He just couldn't believe it. He had been outsmarted by Aogami of all people. This had to be a record or something. But through all of his thoughts, one thing kept nagging at him…

"…Why the hell didn't –I- think of that?" Tsuchimikado mumbled to himself as he pocketed the registration form in pocket.

But, whatever the tactic, it didn't matter. He had gotten what he wanted and he would turn it in after school.

* * *

><p>Later that night, Tsuchimikado was happy as could be as he watched his cute little sister cook dinner. It was much fun to watch her do this. The way she moved and tasted everything to make sure it was perfect… all of it was just adorable, especially the look she had when the food didn't taste just right. It was times like this that the blonde magician cherished, more than anything in this world.<p>

"Ah!" Maika said jumping slightly. Something had either spooked her or she suddenly remembered something important.

"What's wrong, Maika-chan?" Tsuchimikado asked, straightening up quickly in his worry for his precious little sister.

"I…" Maika began as she turned around to give her stepbrother the cutest look she could muster up. "I was wondering if…well, if you would be able to sign the paper on the table for me, onii-chan?"

Turning to notice the piece of standard sized paper on the dinner table, Tsuchimikado turned back to his sister and asked, "What's it for Maika-chan?"

"I needed my guardian to sign that sheet for a class trip." Maika explained a cute puppy dog look in her eyes. "I really wanna go, onii-chan, please?"

Tsuchimikado smiled softly enjoying the cute act Maika was giving him. Nodding quickly, he pulled the sheet of paper closer and signed it without even bothering to look at what was even printed on it.

However, while he may have been a spy and lying was natural to him, it never once occurred to him that maybe, just maybe, that Maika would lie to him about something. To Tsuchimikado, Maika was the world to him and if she needed something, he would do it in a heartbeat.

Sadly for him, if he had only taken the time to look at what he just signed. That way, he would've been able to avoid the future trouble to come. Seeing her stepbrother having signed the sheet, Maika gave him a big smile.

"Yay, thank you onii-chan! You're the best." Maika said before turning back to the dinner in front of her.

'_Kukuku…Just as planned.'_ The young High-Class Maid (in training) thought devilishly, an evil smile on her face.

End Chapter 1


	2. Sign Up, Bets, and Bribes

Hey guys, Here's the 2nd chapter after what seems to be FOREVER...I think.

Credit goes to my Beta Reikson and TFF. Thanks you guy!

If you like, then leave a review and recommend it anyway you can.

* * *

><p>On the same day that both Judgement and Anti-Skill were told of their fate in the auction, six people began to move out to find their intended target. Their objective was simple: Find their target and try to convince them to join the superintendant's date auction.<p>

It would not be an easy job, though one did disagree with that statement. There would be perils and dangers only known to them. They could only hope for the best and pray that they would make it out of this alive.

All of which happened several weeks before Touma's unwitting registration into the date auction, courtesy of his friends

* * *

><p>Accelerator grumbled to himself as he hobbled down the street. He had been sent down to the local grocery store with a list and money after being told that it was his week to do the shopping.<p>

"Why the fuck do I have to do this shitty ass shopping?" Accelerator mumbled to himself as he entered the store. "Why not get the brat or the bigger brat to do it?"

Then he stopped to catch his breath, and shuddered as he imagined **those** scenarios.

Last Order would probably come home with either half the items missing or all junk food.

Worst would probably just blow it all on herself, all the while that stupid smirk of hers on her face.

Maybe he should just get this over and be done with it before any more disturbing images came to mind. As he began to gather all the requested items in the cart as fast as he could, he noticed something suspicious out of the corner of his eye; a man in a black suit, approaching him cautiously.

Accelerator clenched both his fist and his teeth as he made his way to the checkout.

'_What the fuck do they want with me now? I already told them that I was done with that dark side shit.'_ he snarled to himself, paying for the items and left the store quickly. _'I'll find out what this fucker wants before tossing him aside.'_

With a glance to make sure the suit was still following him, which he still was, the strongest esper quickly flicked the switch on his collar on and quickly hid his footsteps, turning down the alleyway; he quickly hid behind some boxes and waited for the suit to arrive.

He didn't have to wait long as the suited man ran down the alleyway frantically looking for him. Flicking his collar off, he hobbled out glaring poisonously at him.

"Why the hell are you following me and what the fuck do you want?" Accelerator demanded in his usual crass tone. "It better be a damn good reason or I'll make you into the shit stain that you are."

To the suits credit, he didn't pee his pants in fear like the others Accelerator spooked would have, though he did jump slightly at the sudden surprise. Quickly turning around to face the city's strongest esper, he gave his best smile as he prepared to make his sales pitch.

"Ah, Accelerator-sama, thank goodness I didn't lose you." The suit said officially fishing around in his jacket before pulling out a business card and holding it out to the tactless esper. "My name is Raito and I'd like to ask for your help in a matter."

Accelerator kept the glare up and focused on the suit, Raito as he reached over and snatched the offered business card.

"The hell do you need my help for?" Accelerator growled as he slipped the card into his pocket. He turned to leave, looking disgusted as he sneered. "I said I would never work for that side again."

Seeing was going to lose Accelerator here, Raito acted quickly.

"No, no, nothing like that at all, sir," he spoke quickly. Seeing Accelerator stopping to look back at him, he took a deep breath before continuing his pitch. "Superintendent Crowley would like to extend an invitation to you, formally requesting your participation in Academy City's first annual Date Auction."

Silence fell over the two, the wind blowing down the alleyway with an ominous howl.

Accelerator just stared at Raito, a murderous look in his eyes. In spite of his experience, the city messenger shivered as the esper's murderous aura washed over him. He wanted to run, but knew he had to try and get Academy City's strongest to join the fundraiser, no matter what.

Seething, Accelerator laboriously picked up his cane and pointed at him, and Raito wondered if he was about to be reduced to a bloody smear on the alley walls.

"Get this through your fuckin' thick skull now…" the albino esper snarled, looking homicidal. "I will not and will fucking NEVER join up with this shitty idea."

With an angry grunt, the Vector Esper turned around and hobbled off once more angrily mumbling to himself.

He left Raito to breathe a sigh of relief, all alone in the dark alleyway.

But he didn't want to lose Accelerator like this, so he jumped forward and hoped to catch him before he lost him again.

"Ah but wait!" Raito called after the albino, running after him. "It's for a good cause!"

"Yeah, for lining the pockets of some Academy City fat ass's pockets," the Vector Esper sneered dismissively.

"No no, it's for…" Raito tried to explain, falling silent as he tried to come up with a valid reason. Inspiration struck him as he came up with the perfect excuse. "It's for the Child Errors!"

That seemed to get Accelerator to stop and look back at him once again. That gave Raito the chance to close the distance between the two again.

Smiling softly at him, Raito tried once more. "So Accelerator-sama, will you join us?"

Accelerator just stared at him momentarily before breaking into an evil smirk.

"Fuck no." the albino replied bluntly. Turning away from the suit, he began to walk to Yomikawa's place, calling over his shoulder. "Why the hell should I worry about some shitty ass brats?"

With that said, it was the final nail in the coffin for Raito. No matter what else he tried, he knew that he wouldn't get Accelerator to join up in the auction.

Raito sighed dejected as he phoned in his results. He could only hope that the other would have better luck than he did.

As he made his way back to base, he could only hope that Accelerator would change his mind later.

* * *

><p>Across the city, Misaka Mikoto chuckled to herself as she slipped the magazine back into the rack she had been standing in front of for the last half hour.<p>

She couldn't help but muse that this week's chapters had been better than usual as she left the store pulling out her cell phone from her pocket to check the time.

'_Ok just enough time to go check the store for any new Gekota merchandise.'_Mikoto thought to herself, putting her phone back in her pocket.

With that plan in mind, she began her trek to the store with a smile on her face. The thought of new Gekota merchandise keeping her distracted, she never noticed the man in black approaching her until after she bumped into him.

"Ah sorry, I wasn't paying attention." she apologized looking up at the suit-wearing man. "Are you all right?"

"Yes I am, Misaka-sama, but I need to talk to you." The man in the suit said formally. Mikoto frowned, wondering how he knew her name, as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a business card that he held out to her. "My name is Hiiragi, and Academy City would like your help."

Mikoto nodded slowly as she took the card, eyeing the taller man suspiciously.

"With what?" The Railgun asked, narrowing her eyes. She had to be careful here.

Mikoto knew that she had to be careful here, especially after last time. She had to keep her guard up. She did NOT want to be used again. The dark side of Academy City was not something to be taken lightly.

"Academy City would like for you to help out by participating in its first annual Date Auction." Hiiragi explained with a straight face.

Mikoto stared at him slightly confused, before what this MIB was asking of her. As the implications hit home, her face flushed red with embarrassment.

"No no no no! Absolutely not!" Mikoto yelled fully embarrassed as she shook her head. "That's just too embarrassing! I just couldn't do it!"

"Are you sure, Misaka-sama? " Hiiragi asked her mildly. He set down a bag that she hadn't noticed before, making her wonder about its contents. "Is there nothing I can do to change your mind?"

"Yeah," she nodded furiously. "I'm afraid I can't do it." The Electromaster asserted, crossing her arms definitely.

Belying her stand, however, was the fact that she was looking away from him blushing rather heavily.

Hiiragi nodded solemnly, reaching into the bag and slowly pulling out to be what looked like a frog-style stuffed animal with lipstick on its mouth and dressed in white wedding dress, complete with a veil and a bouquet of flowers in one hand. The young electro master's eyes widened as she stared at the stuffed toy, he throat dry at the implications of what she was looking at.

"N-no way…" she sputtered in denial. "That can't be… is that-"

"Correct." Hiiragi cooly interrupted her, holding the doll out for the young girl to inspect closely. "This is the ultra limited production item; Gekota Bride."

Mikoto's breath was caught in her throat. There it was before her; one of the rarest Gekota items ever made. There were only twenty of them in the entire world, and being an unrepentant Gekota otaku meant…

"What…what do I have to do?" The massive Gekota fan asked faintly.

She wanted that doll.

Badly.

"All you have to do is agree to joining and participating in the city's Date Auction and the doll will be yours." Hiiragi explained calmly.

Now Mikoto was worried. Was the auction just for the rich old farts? She didn't want to be some rich old farts personal plaything for the evening. That thought alone sent shivers of disgust up and down her spine and made her somewhat sick.

"Before I agree, I have a few questions…"

"Of course, what do you wish to know?"

"Is this whole thing open to the public? Or is it a private function?"

Hiiragi smiled softly, understanding her fears. "The auction is open to the entire city. So do not fear for your virtue, Misaka-sama."

Mikoto released the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. A great cloud of dread seemed to have fallen off her shoulders, although she still had more questions.

"That's good, that's good…" The Railgun muttered distractedly. "Besides me, who else will be there?"

"Besides you, we are trying to recruit the other Level 5's, but we don't know who'll be participating for certain. Not yet. What we do know is that both Judgement and Anti-Skill will be joining you on stage as well."

Mikoto nodded her head satisfied in the knowledge that she wouldn't be alone. Just one more question…

"One last question…" Mikoto began sneaking a glance at the bag. Hiiragi nodded his head. "How do I know that that item is real?"

Hiiragi chuckled indulgently, reaching into the bag and pulling out a small wooden frame that he held out to her. "I do believe this will be more than enough proof, Misaka-sama."

The Electroshock Princess slowly glanced at the proffered frame, and her eyes widened in shock as she felt her jaw drop. The frame was holding a Certificate of Authenticity!

She couldn't believe it. It was real! It was a **REAL** rare Gekota item that this Hiiragi fellow was using to entice her! She knew she wanted it more than ever now, and damn the consequences.

"All right…" the Gekota otaku whispered nodding her head. "I'll do it."

Hiiragi nodded, pulling out a sheet from his jacket and holding it out for her.

"Fill this application out, please." He requested.

Mikoto grabbed the sheet and filled it out quickly before handing it back to him. Hiiragi nodded, handing the bag over to the young girl and watching her face lit up in joy.

"Thank you Misaka-sama." Hiiragi said, pocketing the sheet. "Academy City thanks you for your participation."

He gave her a polite bow before leaving the ecstatic Gekota fan to her new item.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, in another part of Academy City, a man in a black suit took a deep breath before approaching the unsuspecting teen.<p>

"Excuse me Gunha-sama?" The man in the black suit, Daichi, asked politely. "I'd like to ask you something please."

"Hmm? One second." The teen, now identified as Gunha, replied. "I gotta save this cat real quick."

Gunha looked up into the tall tree momentarily before nodding his head. Crouching down, his hands laid against the ground. Taking a deep breath, he focused intently on the small cat meowing helplessly in the tree.

"Amazing Jump!" Gunha yelled as he pushed off the ground flying to the air at an amazing speed. Of course with Gunha, he overshot his target easily clearing the tree. But as he came back down, he landed on the branch with an amazing amount of careful grace.

Grabbing the helpless cat stuck in the tree, he jumped back down to the ground. Landing on his feet with a crash, leaving a small crater under him, he let the now scared witless cat scamper off to destinations unknown.

Turning to Daichi, he gave the MIB his full attention.

"Now what can I do for you?" The Gemstone questioned.

"Well Gunha-sama, to put it cleanly and quickly…." Daichi began, clearing his throat. "…Academy City needs your help."

"With what?" The natural born esper asked with baited breath. He was always ready to help Academy City at any time.

"We need you to participate in the city's first annual Date Auction." Daichi explained. "The money would go to helping fund Academy City's various budgets, like Judgement and Anti-Skill."

"Uh huh…" Gunha said looking contemplative.

"You will also be helping out one person or more become happier by being their date." Daichi said, reaching into his pocket to pull out a form. "You will also be joined by both Judgement and Anti-Skill."

"All right. I'll do it." Gunha decided, just before thrusting a clenched fist up into the air and bellowing loudly, "With Guts!"

A large explosion, with multi-colored smoke, suddenly went off behind him. Daichi, having the living daylights scared out of him, took comfort in the fact that several screams of panic were quick to follow.

Chuckling weakly, he managed to coax Sogiita Gunha into signing the application for m before the esper ran off towards the screams.

Two people down, three more hopefuls left.

* * *

><p>Mugino Shizuri sighed happily as she relaxed in her chair.<p>

It was a bright and sunny day, the birds were signing and she had a cup of her favorite tea in front of her at her favorite café.

Nothing could ruin this day.

"I'm super telling you! There's no way that Hamazura couldn't live after being throw into a lion pit with a sausage belt." Kinuhata Saiai shouted, pointing her finger at Fremea Seivelun, the young blonde girl, who sat across from her.

"You are wrong!" Fremea shot back crossing her arms cutely. "Essentially, Hamazura's chances of living are close to, if not exactly, zero if we did that."

Mugino sighed softly as she held her forehead. Nothing, except these two, could ruin her day.

The subject of the conversation just sat there quietly, his head drooping in sadness. The girl to his right, one Takitsubo Rikou, said nothing, but gave him a comforting pat on the back.

"Will you two just shut up already?" Mugino snapped angrily. "Besides Hamazura would live if he knew what was good for him."

Hamazura groaned in defeat, letting his head smack against table loudly. The others could only chuckle at how pathetic he could be, and were so distracted with each other that they never saw the man in the black suit approach them until it was too late.

"Excuse me Mugino-sama…" The man in the black suit began. "…But I would like to talk to you if you have the time." Giving her friends a quick glance, he added, "Privately if you can."

Mugino glared at him as she took a sip of her tea.

"Whatever you have to say to me privately is something that you can say it to me in front of them as well." She said calmly as she set her cup down. "Be glad that I'm giving you this chance and not just blasting you to kingdom-come."

Hamazura sighed, exhausted. "Mugino…" he said shaking his head. "Don't. Please."

"What? I gave him a chance to explain himself." She defended herself, shrugging her shoulders. Turning back to the man in black, she snapped, "So what do you want?"

The man in the black suit just stared at them in shock before a small cough brought him back to his senses.

"Uhh…right…" He sputtered reaching into his jacket pulling out a business card that he held out to her. "My name is Mizushima, and I am here on behalf of Academy City."

Mugino took the offered card and glanced at it before setting it down.

"Right and what do you want?"

"Academy City would like you to participate in its first ever city wide Date Auction." Mizushima stated politely.

The only thing that anyone could hear for the next several minutes was the chatter of people around them. Mizushima could only stand there, feeling as if he had set off a nuclear warhead, as the other people at the table just stared at him like a deer trapped in the headlights.

"Umm…Mugino-sama?" Mizushima ventured. "Your answer?"

Fortunately for this poor soul, if looks could kill, he would've already been six feet under so fast that nobody would've know what was going on till it was too late.

"You want…me to go on stage and let people bid on me like I was some cow?" Mugino asked, her slowly face slowly going several shades of red.

Whether this change in her appearance was because she was embarrassed or angry and pissed off beyond belief, nobody could tell.

In either case, the poor teacup gripped in her hand shattered rather quickly as she suddenly shrieked, "Is this supposed to be some sort of joke!"

Mizushima was shaking in his shoes as saw Mugino slowly rise to her feet, looking murderous. He quickly scrambled away from the clique's table as fast as he could; praying that nobody or nothing would trip him up.

"No!" Mugino yelled, holding up her silicon card and making sure to aim at the poor soul that had pissed her off. "Take that AND this back to your bosses!" she shrieked.

It was only thanks to Hamazura's quick thinking and interference that Mizushima was allowed to live as the blonde Level 0 knocked Mugino's aim off sending the destructive beam into the air harmlessly.

Mugino growled angrily as she turned around, her anger now focused on the poor soul who'd foiled her.

"You have three seconds to run, Hamazura." The explosively angry Level 5 warned venomously.

Hamazura gulped as he scrambled away as quickly as HE could this time. There was nothing fun or good for one's health like a pissed off Mugino.

"Three!" Mugino screeched, charging down the street after her hapless victim, if only to blow off some steam.

Kinuhata, Takitsubo, and Fremea could only sigh as they watched the scene. Each of them knew that things could be worse.

Throwing down some money for their food, the three of them left the café. On a whim, Fremea grabbed the card that Mizushima had left behind.

"How long do you think Hamazura could super last?" Kinuhata wondered, a playful smirk on her lips.

"Essentially, Hamazura will last only five minutes." Fremea giggled, smiling slightly.

"No way~, I bet only 3 minutes."

Their laughter could be heard as Hamazura yelled in fear as he ran for his life.

* * *

><p>Shokuhou Misaki giggled happily as she swallowed another spoonful of her parfait. Times like these were the epitome of joy for her.<p>

Of course, her loyal followers always tried to get her to stop eating them saying that they were bad for her figure and that it would be unbecoming of their master if she got fat.

That last little bit steamed her quite badly.

How dare they insinuate that she was getting fat!

She made sure she worked off whatever sweets she ate.

So what's wrong with having a treat every now and then?

The problem was that to Misaki's followers 'every now and then' really meant every other day. In her mind, it wasn't her fault that they were delicious and she had a sweet tooth for them.

As she sat there eating her parfait, she never noticed the man in the black suit approaching her till he was close enough for her to hear him clear this throat.

It was enough of a shock for the blond esper that she nearly dropped her spoon.

"What do you want?" Misaki asked huffily, a tad upset that not only was she found, but she nearly lost her spoon as well. She made sure to lose her followers as they tried to trail her.

"Shokuhou-sama, my name is Fuuto." The man in the black suit, Fuuto, stated as he held out a business card for Misaki, which she took languidly. "I am here on behalf of Academy City…"

Fuuto trailed off as Misaki sat there, eating her parfait without a care in the world. Seeing no argument from her, he continued on.

"Academy City would appreciate it if you would be so willing to grace us with your presence at Academy City's first ever annual Date Auction." Fuuto requested formally, hoping that she would agree easily. Sadly for him, Shokuhou Misaki would not be won over that easily.

"No." Misaki said plainly as she ate another spoonful.

"Wh-why Shokuhou-sama?" Fuuto wondered, obviously flustered. "Surely your presence would draw a large crowd of people."

"Well for one thing: it sounds boring." Mental Out replied, shrugging as she set her spoon into the now empty parfait glass.

"Is there anything I could get or do for you to change your mind?" Fuuto urged franticly. He did not want to be turned down so quickly. He began to quickly run through everything he knew about her, in the hopes of find something to convince her.

"Don't even bother." The mind-reader stated as she took a peek into his mind. "There's nothing you can offer me that'll change my mind."

Fuuto sighed deeply as he turned to look away from the blonde oujou-sama. It was then that he noticed a small group of people had gathered watching the two of them.

He grinned as he realized what he could use against her.

"Shokuhou-sama…" Fuuto asked slyly, smirking slightly. "What if I said I could get you a date? One that not even your followers could stop?"

This was it; his final shot.

His little gambit worked, because it got Misaki to glance at him curiously. While romance wasn't high on her list of things, it was still there nonetheless.

With her status, she couldn't exactly approach romance lightly. Plus her followers would drag any poor boy who tried to approach her away, no matter how often or how many times she told them to stop.

"I mean a maiden as beautiful as you surely have had dreams of going out on a date or two with a boy right?" Fuuto suggested lightly.

Noting that Misaki had given him her full attention, he hit the hammer home. "The rules state that the person up for auction HAS to go on the date or dates with the bidder or bidders. So with that in place, not even your followers could stop you if they tried. Not if they know what's good for them."

That… actually sounded extremely appealing to Misaki. The more she thought about it, the more she liked it.

The date auction would allow her to cross one more thing off her secret list.

With that in mind, she nodded decisively.

"All right then…" The sweet toothed esper said, holding out a hand. "I'll join your little date auction."

Fuuto could only grin in triumph as he handed Misaki both the form and a pen, which she filled out hastily.

"Thank you again, Shokuhou-sama. Academy City appreciates you for joining the event." Fuuto said happily, slipping the form back into his jacket. "I wish you good day."

Giving one last polite bow to her, he left quickly; Misaki's followers quickly rushed forward, making sure to glare at him as he passed them without any concerns.

At the end of the day, of the six men that went out, only five of them returned having made contact with their intended target.

Of these five, only three of them had confirmed that their targets were signing up.

Additionally, one of the two failures hadn't given up hope of their target changing their mind.

* * *

><p>Accelerator grumbled as he hobbled back into the apartment. He was still pissed off at that Raito guy having the gall to ask him to join up with that stupid event.<p>

"I'm back." The Vector Esper yelled, hobbling into the kitchen and dumping the groceries on the counter before passing the two Misaka clones perched before the TV.

"Welcome home Accelerator. Misaka replies as Misaka plays the game diligently."

"Heh, welcome home Tou-chan." Worst shot over her shoulder not even bothering to look away from the screen.

Accelerator took a glance at the screen and saw that the two of them were playing a simple racing game. From what he saw, Worst was far ahead of Last Order. So it wasn't long before the game between the two was over ending in Worst's victory.

"Ahh! You cheated! Misaka accuses as Misaka points at the cheater."

"Oh? And how, pray tell, did Misaka cheat?" Worst wondered aloud, an evil grin on her face. "I've been playing fair this entire time."

Last Order just glared at the older version of herself.

"Grr…give Misaka a rematch! Misaka demands as Misaka threatens to throw a tantrum!"

"Hmmm…" Worst drawled out, that evil grin of hers still on her face.

Her answer?

"No."

Last Order yelled angrily as she stomped on the floor hard enough to it to be heard from the kitchen, yelling how she wanted a rematch now.

Accelerator felt his eyebrow twitch as her yellingbecame too much for him and snapped.

"Last Order!" The pissed off esper yelled, causing the young girl to stop in her tracks. "Quit yer fuckin' yellin' and shut up! Worst!"

Worst slowly turned to look at him, a shit eating grin on her face. "Yes, tou-chan?" she asked sweetly.

"Quit pickin' on the fuckin' brat and just give her the goddamn rematch so she'll stop screamin'!"

"As you command, tou-chan," Worst nodded, suddenly all saccharine sweetness in her voice. "Come Last Order, we shall have your rematch."

Accelerator groaned at the stupidity of it all. Shaking his head, he fell onto the couch, closing his eyes in the hopes of getting a short nap.

Accelerator woke a short while later when his name was called for dinner. Taking a seat at the table, he quickly dug into the food before him.

Yomikawa sighed softly as she sat her rice bowl down.

"What's wrong Aiho?" Yoshikawa Kikyo asked her friend. "Rough day at work?"

"I guess you could say that." Yomikawa groaned, looking at her friend. "The Chief just told us that both Judgement and Anti-Skill have to join this date auction the Super thought up-jan."

Accelerator snorted at that news having turned down the chance to join earlier.

Good riddance, he decided.

There was no way in hell he'd join something so ridiculous.

"Who the fuck would want to bid on an old lady like you, anyway?" Accelerator sneered in passing as he shoveled another spoonful of miso soup into his mouth.

Yomikawa just glared at him as Worst just chuckled quietly.

Then the glamorously-proportioned teacher suddenly grinned slyly."Oh? Afraid someone will steal your Yomi-nee away?"

"Yeah, right," the albino scoffed derisively.

"You know, speaking of the date auction," Yomikawa stated remembering the questions from her meeting. "…I heard that they were trying to recruit the Level 5's. Did they ask you yet?"

Accelerator rolled his eyes as he finished emptying his rice bowl.

"Yeah, but I turned the fucker down." Accelerator said as he held out his bowl. "Seconds."

Yomikawa sighed as she shook her head as she gave him more rice.

Suddenly, she had an idea. She grinned mischievously as she turned to look at the white haired boy.

Her grin was so mischievous that it even made Worst proud.

"Oh? Why did you turn him down?" she teased her oldest charge relentlessly. "Afraid you won't get a date? Or maybe you're afraid you'll be sold for a low amount-jan?"

Accelerator paused in his eating to glare at the older woman with the royal-blue hair. She simply gave him the most innocent smile she could muster.

"Yeah, fuckin' right," the albino sneered. "If I joined, I'd be the top sold all night." he boasted.

That was the moment Yomikawa was waiting for. Without missing a beat, she pressed on.

"Ara? Are you SURE about that Accel-chan?" she sang, smirking. Worst sniggered as she could tell where this was going.

"Abso-fuckin'-lutely," The strongest esper sneered, crossing his arms over his chest arrogantly.

"Then why don't we place a bet on that hmm?" Yomikawa offered, smiling coyly.

"What type of bet?"

"Just a simple one…" Yomikawa said as she rose from her seat. "You join the auction, and if you ARE NOT the highest person bid on, then you will work for Judgement for two weeks."

He twitched reflexively, as if to launch a stream of invective, and she held up a finger in warning. "Uh-uh! You do those two weeks of Judgement work **without complaining**."

If looks could kill, then Accelerator's glare at Yomikawa would've turned her into a little more than a bloody smear on the far side of the apartment. Finally, he managed to say, "And if I am the highest bid of the night, then what?"

"Well, that's for you to decide," she shrugged. "Anything you want, Accelerator…as long as it's within my power."

The Vector Esper stared at his guardian for a long time. He wondered if she would really keep her word.

If she didn't then she would be in for a rude awakening.

To him, this was a suckers bet.

There was no way he was going to pass up a chance to get something out of Yomikawa. In fact, he already had several things in mind.

"All right, then, you're on." Accelerator grinned as he reached over to shake his guardian's outstretched hand.

There was absolutely no way for him to lose.

There was no one more famous or infamous than him.

* * *

><p>Raito sighed deeply as he backed his bag.<p>

Today had been a horrible day for him.

When he and the five other men had drawn lots on who would get what Level 5, he had drawn Accelerator, who they considered to be the most violent of the bunch.

He cursed Daichi a little. He had drawn Gunha, the would-be hot-blooded hero, and one of the more-genial Level 5's.

He tried to get to Daichi to switch with him, but their boss had made it clear that they had to stick with who they had drawn.

So when he had set out to try and recruit Accelerator to join the Date Auction, he'd failed spectacularly.

Thankfully he wasn't the only one that had failed. He was glad that Mizushima had failed in recruiting his own target as well.

As he stood there packing his bag up, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.

Wondering who it could be, he hesitantly answered it.

"Hello? Raito speaking."

"_Hey, I've changed my mind. I'm joining the damn event."_

Raito blinked in confusion, pulling away to stare at his phone. Putting it back to his ear, he asked, "Who is this?"

"_Who the fuck do you think this is?"_ The voice suddenly exploded into a shout, making Raito pull his phone away from his ear by reflex.

The agent's eyes widened in surprise as he quickly recognized who the crass voice was.

"Accelerator-sama?"

"_No shit Sherlock,"_ the vector esper sneered acerbically. "_Like I said, I've changed my mind about joining the damn event."_

"Of course Accelerator-sama, I just need you to fill out the registration form." Raito replied quickly, already fumbling through his bag for the necessary paperwork. " I can bring it to you quickly, if you so desire."

"_Fine fine, just hurry the fuck up,"_ the albino sneered over the phone. "_I don't have all damn day."_

"Absolutely sir, I'll be there in ten minutes." Raito assured him.

Hearing the call end, Raito whooped with glee.

Maybe today wasn't going to be so bad after all.

Quickly grabbing the form, he left for Accelerator's apartment.

* * *

><p>The day the advertisements for Academy City's Date Auction went up, the entire city went into an uproar of excited chatter.<p>

They were especially excited when they learned that four of the city's Level 5's would be participating in the date auction, alongside the single members of both Judgement and Anti-Skill.

It wasn't even a day later before the advertisements had changed again. This time saying that registration had been opened up to the public as well.

It had been a few days since that change had gone up when Kinuhata Saiai, Fremea Seivelun, and Takitsubo Rikou had gotten together to formulate a plot.

What should be known is that whenever a plot was made involving Kinuhata, and it wasn't for battle, then you could be sure that it wouldn't be pretty for ITEM's lackey, Hamazura Shiage.

So when Hamazura found himself surrounded by not only his girlfriend, but also his leader and the team's youngest member, he was dreadfully worried about himself.

"Uhh…what's going on guys?" Hamazura asked as he glanced around nervously.

There was sinking feeling in his stomach and he knew he had to get away.

Quickly.

"Well Hamazura, the thing is…" Kinuhata drawled, pulling out a form from her pocket. "We need you to super sign this."

"What's it for?" the blonde wondered, taking the proffered sheet. "Not that I'm against it or anything."

"Essentially, it's the signup sheet for the Academy City Date Auction that's coming up in about two weeks." Fremea explained a hand on her hip.

Hamazura nodded slowly, processing that info.

"Right right…" he muttered, looking down at the sheet. It was then that he fully understood what he was told. "EH! What? You guys gotta be jokin'!"

"Nope." Kinuhata said bluntly. "We want you to sign up."

"Why?" he was almost in tears at this point; nothing good could come of this.

"Because we're bored and thought that this would be fun." Fremea shrugged.

"Ugh…even you Rikou?" Hamazura asked his girlfriend, hoping that she'd be able to spare him from this horrible idea.

The girl in question just stared at him before placing a hand on his shoulder and flashing thumbs up, a slight sparkle in her eyes.

"It's going to be fun, Hamazura-kun." Takitsubo muttered, staring at him that slight sparkle still there.

"Essentially, you should just sign it quickly, Hamazura." The youngest member urged, pushing a pen into his hand.

Hamazura was feeling trapped. He tried to back away, but hit the wall behind him.

Here he was; stuck between a rock and a hard place, and with absolutely no place to go at all.

To his left were 2 friends of his; one of which had a maniacal grin on her face as she approached him, and on his right was his girlfriend. He took a glance at his girlfriend, hoping that she'd spare him.

What he saw not only dashed his hopes, but also made his heart flutter about wildly.

Takitsubo had a soft and gentle look on her face that Hamazura knew that he couldn't defend against.

"Please…not the face Takitsubo." The blond Level 0 begged, trying to avert his eyes to no avail. His eyes kept being draw back to the cute look she had.

"Please sign up then…." The Level 4 esper said quietly before blushing; her final secret weapon. "..Shiage-kun."

That last word was all it took to break the final straw on his (weak) will against Takitsubo. He groaned loudly, tear at his hair in frustration.

"Argh, fine!" The lackey groaned, giving up. "I'll sign up! Just put the face away for now Takitsubo."

Kinuhata and Fremea both cheered loudly, while Takitsubo held up a single clenched fist and gave a quiet 'Yay' of joy. Hamazura grumbled to himself as he filled out the form.

"There! Happy now?" The level 0 grumbled, tossing the form back to them. "You'll at least bid on me right, Takitsubo?"

All he got from her was a slight nod letting him to sigh in relief.

At least he wouldn't be a complete and TOTAL wash out on stage.

"What's got you lot so excited?" Meltdowner's voice rang out crossly, making all four of them flinch.

Mugino Shizuri had appeared from behind them, several shopping bags in her hands. Noticeably, she had a curious look on her face.

"You super remember that auction you were asked to join a while back right?" Saiai asked a small grin on her face.

"Don't remind me." The Level 5 snarled, scowling at the unpleasant memory.

"Right, well… Anyway, we got Hamazura to super sign up!" The ITEM leader exclaimed happily.

"Is that so?" Mugino sneered, suddenly calculating.

"Well, better him than me, I guess." Mugino said grinning evilly at her blond Level 0 stooge.

"Hmmph, at least I'll get someone to bid on me." Hamazura shot back.

"Just what are you implying Hamazura?" The Meltdowner demanded, sounding homicidal.

"I'm just saying that…" the blond shrugged with a casual nonchalance that he wasn't feeling. "Well…I don't think anyone wants to go out with someone as crazy as you is all." He had to be careful here, or he'd be eating a beam full of energy for dinner.

That seemed to get a reaction out of Mugino who dropped her bags to the ground in anger. Her face was flushed in rage, as she stalked forward to shove herself right into Hamazura's face, so he could see just how angry she'd become at his comments.

Part of him would always swear that he saw a hurt look in her eyes from his words.

Maybe he shouldn't have been so harsh.

"As a matter of fact, Hamazura, I have a LINE of people wanting to date me!" The ITEM member screeched angrily.

Then, again…

Inspiration can strike anyone, even Hamazura Shiage. Meltdowner's words had provided the perfect platform for his next move in a quickly-formed plan that he hoped to pull off successfully.

"Then prove it!" he yelled back, shoving himself into her personal space until their foreheads were touching. Predictably, her flushed face reddened even further as her anger resurfaced in the face of his sheer audacity.

"Join the date auction and show me that you really **do** have a line of people who want to date you then!" the blond Level 0 demanded.

It was now or never, he had it all riding on this one shot.

"Fine!" Mugino cried, snapping her fingers and holding out her hand. Fremea understood what Mugino had called for and reached into her purse and pulled out the card that Mizushima had left behind some time ago. Handing her the card, Mugino only glanced at it as she pulled out her cell phone.

Dialing the number quickly, she didn't have to wait long before someone picked up on the other side.

"Mizushima?" Mugino began, glaring at Hamazura. "It's Mugino. I just wanted to let you know that I've changed my mind. I'll be joining this date auction of yours."

The only things that the other ITEM members could hear for the next several minutes, was Mugino's side of her conversation.

"Yes."

"All right."

And finally, "Just get here." Before she snapped her phone shut and stalked away, but not before affixing Hamazura with her most poisonous glare yet.

Hamazura sighed to himself as he sat down on the ground, his back against the wall.

At least now, he wasn't going to go down along here.

Even if it meant that he was going to be target practice for the next while.

He could live with that.

Maybe.

* * *

><p>The following day, the ads had changed once more.<p>

This time, they revealed the fact that five of the city's seven Level 5 espers had joined Academy City's date auction.

The whole city was in a massive uproar, openly speculating about how the city had managed to convince five of the city's seven most powerful espers to gather all in one place for the evening.

"I can't believe it." An awestruck Saten Ruiko murmured. " The city's gotten five of the Level 5's to participate, Uiharu. FIVE! The whole city's in an uproar! This may be the biggest and most exciting night of the entire year."

"I know that, Saten-san." Uiharu Kazari said placidly. "It's all that anybody ever talks about lately."

Then the flower wearing girl trailed off as she turned to her friend next to her. "Although…how DID they get you to sign up Misaka-san?"

Misaka Mikoto only blushed in embarrassment looking at the floor, sipping her drink quietly.

"Onee-sama sold herself out for a Gekota item." Shirai Kuroko explained bluntly, rolling her eyes. Mikoto's eyes widened in shock as she choked on her drink, her face flushing red with embarrassment.

"Kur-Kuroko!" Mikoto yelled, fully embarrassed now and blushing furiously. "…it-it was a limited ultra rare item!"

Uiharu and Ruiko could only chuckle weakly at their friends antics. Uiharu simply smiled as she dug into the parfait before her with joy. The small things in life, like these, were always good Uiharu concluded.

Then Kuroko turned to Mikoto, a frown on her face.

"Onee-sama!" Kuroko exclaimed dramatically, a hurt puppy dog look in her eyes. "You'll keep your promise to Kuroko right?"

"Huh?" The Railgun wondered, trying to remember that particular promise.

"Don't tell me you forgot, Onee-sama!" The aggressive lesbian wailed, throwing her arms around the electro master's waist. "You promised to help buy Kuroko, remember?"

Mikoto sighed dejectedly as she plucked Kuroko offer of her.

That's right…she did make that promise, didn't she?

It was times like this that made her wonder what she did to garner Kuroko's affections like this.

"I said I would TRY, Kuroko." She replied, clarifying the nature of their agreement.

"But I don't want to be won by anyone other than Onee-sama!" the teleporter wailed, trying to hug Mikoto again.

The Ace of Tokiwadai sighed. Of all the-

No, she shouldn't go there right now. She needed to control her temper.

"I said that I'll try Kuroko." Mikoto reaffirmed. "Other people could want you more then what I could afford."

Kuroko sighed deeply as she rested her head on the table. While she was sad that her Onee-sama hadn't offered to pay for her completely, she was glad that Mikoto would try.

Even if her plan didn't plan out like she had wanted, there was still a chance she could be won by Mikoto when she was on stage.

"Thank you Onee-sama." The Judgement member said smiling faintly. "That should make this auction a bit better."

However, a high pitched aristocratic laugh could be heard from behind her. Kuroko groaned internally when she realized who that laughed belonged to.

"Please…not now, Kongou-san." Kuroko said politely, as she turned to look at her…friend, for lack of a better word. "I'm not really in the mood at the moment."

"Oh hoho!" Kongou Mitsuko cooed mockingly, sensing gossip.

"Now why would you be in the dumps at this moment, Shirai-san?" Kongou Mitsuko asked rhetorically, a smirk on her face.

Snapping her fan, she turned towards Mikoto with a smile. "Hello Misaka-san."

"Hello Kongou-san." The electro master nodded. "How are you?"

"I have been well thank you." The Level 4 Aero Hand mused. "Are you doing well yourself?"

"I'm good thanks."

"That's good, but what's upset Shirai-san?" The proud girl asked politely.

"You know the date auction that's coming up next week?" Mikoto asked.

Seeing a nod, she continued on. "She's a tad worried about it is all."

Kongou nodded slowly, understanding dawning on her.

Giving Kuroko a quick look-over, she sighed softly before patting the young teleporter on the back in consolation.

"It's all right Shirai-san," she consoled Kuroko. "I'm sure you'll find someone who will want you." She offered, trying to give the teleporter some measure of hope.

Of course, all the talk at the table stopped as Kuroko slowly turned to look at her fellow Level 4, a deadpan look on her face.

"What?" Kuroko asked wondering what she was really talking about.

"I mean that I'm sure that auction will have people who areinto into women or girls with a chest like yours." The Aero Fist user explained calmly.

"You think that I'm worried about the auction because of the size of my chest?" Kuroko sputtered, trying not to fly into a rage.

"Of course," Kongou shrugged, snapping her fan open and waving it before her face. "Men will always go for the women with bigger chests."

If TV and manga has taught her anything, it was that the bigger the chest, the more the guys would want you. It was (probably) scientifically proven!

Kuroko could only chuckle darkly as she shook her head at Kongou's logic.

That type of thinking was so stupid!

Even small chests could be wonderful!

Like her Onee-sama for starters.

"You know what…" The teleporter decided, still shaking her head. "Why don't you join the auction, and prove your theory then? If you go for more than me, I will concede defeat."

"Oh and why would I just join up like that?" Kongou Mitsuko asked, honest curiosity warring with her pride.

"Are you afraid that you're going to lose to me, Kongou-san?" Kuroko goaded. She would not stand for what Kongou was insinuating!

The size of one's chest does not cause more or less attraction to any person!

Her Onee-sama was a testament to that!

Kuroko would NOT stand for this AT ALL!

Kongou could only frown as her courage was called into doubt.

She would not have any of this. None at all.

"Fine, I'll accept your challenge Shirai-san. I will prove you wrong!" she declared, storming away in a huff. Vengeance would be hers next week.

Uiharu and Mikoto glanced at each other before looking down at their own respective chests frowning.

'_There's no way that could be true.'_ The two of them thought to themselves, placing a hand to their chests self-consciously. _'There's just no way.'_

Mikoto frowned as she glanced away. "They're not THAT small." The Electroshock Princess mumbled to herself.

"Of course not Onee-sama!" Kuroko chimed in, scaring the living daylights out of the Railgun. "Kuroko says you have the best breasts!" Throwing herself at Mikoto once more, her hands reached out and grabbed at the electro master's breasts.

"KUROKO!" Mikoto roared, electrocuting the aggressively outgoing lesbian in her fury.

* * *

><p>Aleister Crowley could only smirk to himself as he watched the pieces to his puzzle fall in place.<p>

It was the eve of the auction and he couldn't be more please.

Everything had gone exactly as planned.

He had everything ready to go and nothing was going to stop him.

All he had to do now was open the doors and let the treasure fall into his lap.

He could hardly wait as the auction drew ever closer.

END CHAPTER 2


	3. Final Prep and The Auction begins!

Hello happy people! It's that again. Time for another WONDERFUL (depends really) chapter of my TAMnI fic "A Certain Date Auction". I really do hope that everybody here enjoys the chapter and has a good time. If you like the fic, rec it someone or some place.

I would like to thank my beta, Reikson, and TFF for being the first people to check out the chapter and let me know what they thought of it.

Also before we begin, I would like to thank Mr. Kyon/Kyon of the Crack for letting me use one of his characters for the chapter.

If you like the story, leave a review. If you hate the story, leave a review. Reviews are a good way to grow and find out what you're either doing right or doing wrong in a story. Use those reviews to grow and become better writers, folks.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything related the To Aru Majutsu no Index series. It belongs to the sole owners of the series.

* * *

><p>Baths are a wonderful thing, Hayashi Aoi, porn star extraordinaire, declared as she stepped out of the bathroom, clad in nothing but a fluty white bathrobe. They not only made her body clean, but it also made her feel reborn. Plus, it was the only real time she could get away from everything and enjoy some personal time alone.<p>

Grabbing a refreshing fruit milk from the fridge, she decided to check her email. She knew that most of them were likely to be junk mail, some fan letters (just how DID they get her email anyway she wondered briefly), or something from Ryuunosuke.

Deleting the junk mail was effortless, but as she scanned the rest of them, one email in particular caught her eye. There wasn't anything special about the return address, but it was the title of the email that was special.

At least, it was important to her.

'_Regarding Kamijou Touma…'_

Seeing his name once again made the buxom blonde's heart flutter wildly, her body giving a warm shivering feeling down below. Ever since filming _Righteous Arm of the Devil_ with Touma all those weeks ago, the pleasure that she usually experience in her profession just didn't feel the same anymore.

No matter who she did, or with how many guys, nothing could ever recreate the pleasure she felt the day she'd taken Academy City's self-professed 'unluckiest boy' for a ride on camera.

Opening and reading the email quickly, she couldn't help but feel giddy as a schoolgirl.

She had to reread the email once more to make sure it was real…

"Kamijou-san…" Aoi whispered quiet reverence in her voice.

'_Dear Ms. Hayashi Aoi,_

_I felt that it was in your best interest to inform you that Academy City is hosting a date auction and that one Kamijou Touma has registered for the event._

_The function is scheduled to start at 20:00 JST on Saturday…'_

The email continued to explain where the function was going to be held and that it would be up to her on how to use this information.

If this email was true, then that would mean this would be her big chance to see Touma again.

Maybe she could even go out on a date with the boy she had turned into man.

There was just no way in hell that she would miss a chance like this.

She would never forgive herself if this information turned out to be true, especially if she'd left a chance at him to have slipped through her fingers so easily.

But first, she had to get Ryuunosuke off her back for that particular day.

Grabbing her phone, she quickly dialed an all too familiar number.

"_Hello, Fuuyama speaking."_ The relaxed voice of her friend and director rang through the earpiece.

"Ryuunosuke, its Aoi." Leaning back and relaxing in her chair, the buxom blonde porn star glanced out the window of her penthouse apartment and smiled at the sight of the beautiful weather outside. "I called to let you know that I'm going to be busy this Saturday."

"_Busy with what?"_

Aoi sighed. She really hoped that he wouldn't pry any further into the matter then this.

"It's just something came up on Saturday and I need to go to Acade-"

"_Oh-hoho! Going to see Touma-kun, are we?"_ Ryuunosuke interrupted chuckling, making her flush in indignation at the idea of being so transparent. _"That's great, actually. Maybe you can do me a small favor then."_

Aoi groaned internally, her grip tightening on the phone. All she wanted was to go and see Tou-no.

NO.

She was going to check out and see if this rumor about Touma and a date auction was true or not. She didn't want to do any work.

"What do you want me to do?"

"_All I need you to do is to try and convince Touma-kun to join up for the next movie."_ Ryuunosuke replied smoothly. Although Aoi couldn't see his face, she knew he was wearing his trademark leering grin.

Then her heart jumped as the rest of his words suddenly sank into her consciousness "You…you mean, it's been green lit?" Aoi asked hesitantly. If this was true, and not some horrible lie that he'd cooked up on a whim, then maybe, just maybe, she'd be able to feel that amazing pleasure once more. Just the thought of recreating that unparalleled burst of carnal ecstasy sent shivers up and down her spine.

She had to have it again.

"_Yeah, although…"_ The famous director sighed tiredly. _"I had to fight to cast you in the lead."_

Aoi's heart sank slightly at the news that she had almost lost the role.

Didn't he ask her personally to take the lead role again at the end of the first film?

She had to find out why.

"Why?" The beautiful star asked. "Why did you have to fight with them about it? Wasn't I supposed to be a shoo-in?"

"_Absolutely," _Fuuyama Ryuunosuke all but nodded over the phone. _"I wanted you to star in it BECAUSE you're my most popular star. But their reasoning was that they didn't want to bore the fans by using the same actress twice in the same franchise. It's like they never heard of sequels before …"_

Even as Aoi shook her head in exasperation, Fuuyama added,"_Thankfully, I managed to convince them that the male lead wouldn't join up unless you were in on this specifically."_

"Aww, thanks Ryuunosuke." Aoi said, grateful, she truly was grateful to him. If it wasn't for him, she wouldn't be here as it was. "I guess that means I'll have to make sure Touma-kun joins up for this, won't I?"

"_Yeah, I wish you the best of luck….Angie-chan."_ Ryuunosuke finished playfully. _"I'll send you the kid's address shortly."_

"Thanks… and its Aoi damn it!" Aoi shouted, but a laughing Ryuunosuke had already hung up on her.

The buxom blonde adult film star sighed as she stood up retightening her bathrobe. A broad grin spread across her face, unbidden, as her body thrummed in anticipation of the delights that awaited her when she was finally reunited with Kamijou Touma.

Giggling, she ran to her closest and flung its doors wide open. Her wardrobe hung before her, and she picked out a clothes hanger that had a particularly-daring set of lingerie on it. She flung it onto her bed, where a large wheeled suitcase lay open and waiting for her to pack for her Saturday trip.

"Look out Kamijou-san! Aoi-chan's coming to get you!" She declared loudly, dissolving into giggles.

This was going to be fun~.

* * *

><p>Laura Stewart giggled as she strolled into her office. A glance around the room allowed her to see that the women she had called earlier had all gathered in her office.<p>

"Evening, ladies," Laura called out as she took a seat the table. Sitting both across, and to her sides, were Itsuwa, Kanzaki Kaori, Orsola Aquinas, and Agnese Sanctis sat their quietly staring at their illustrious leader.

"Good evening Archbishop." The four women called out in unison, bowing slightly.

"I take it you are all doing well?" The blond English woman asked them, smiling faintly. Seeing nods all around, she continued on. "There's a reason why I called you all here. I've heard from a… reliable… source of information, that Academy City is holding a date auction this Saturday aimed towards helping the orphaned and/or abandoned children that live within the city's limits."

"A reliable source? Who?" Kanzaki Kaori questioned, staring at her leader suspiciously. "It wouldn't happen to be that idiot Tsuchimikado, would it?"

Laura would've had to have been deaf to have missed the venom in Kanzaki's voice as she uttered the name of the backstabbing double-agent. It seemed that ever since the young spy had sent the girls a certain "film", under the pretext of it having something to do with Kamijou Touma, it caused several of them to explode into a massive uproar. It had caused them to pray and go to confessional for hours, if not days, afterwards.

When she had gotten her hand on the film itself, she couldn't help but chuckle.

The male lead was painfully obvious, but she wasn't sure if the other girls had realized his identity yet.

Either way, she didn't feel like prying.

At least…not yet that is.

"Who I got the data from doesn't matter," Laura replied, smiling slightly. "The fact remains that I'm going to attend the date auction, which means that I'll require several escorts to keep me company."

"Escorts? Who?" Orsola Aquinas asked politely.

"Why…each of you of course." The young Archbishop said cheerfully.

The four women looked at each other curiously. What was the leader of Necessarius up to now?

"I don't mean to be rude, Archbishop, but…" Agnese wondered, glancing around nervously. "Why include Orsola? Kanzaki-san, Itsuwa-san, and myself, I get. So why bring Orsola along?"

Laura Stuart only answered by giggling and saying, "When we get there, you'll find out why."

The four women could only glance at each warily, despair sinking into each of their stomachs.

"We will be leaving tomorrow at noon. So be ready to leave by then." The blonde Archbishop stated cheerfully as she stood up from her chair, ready to leave. "Have a good rest of the evening ladies."

With nothing more to say, the Archbishop strode out of the room humming quietly. Once out of their sight, her smile quickly turned into a mischievous grin.

This…was going to be deliciously fun.

Now to go and prepare her subordinates…fun.

The following day, Kaori, Itsuwa, Agnese, and Orsola, were all seated in the small private plane the young Archbishop rented, awaiting their leader for her arrival.

"So, Pontiff-sama, what do you think that the Archbishop is trying to do?" Itsuwa asked. She couldn't figure out WHAT their leader was planning.

"I don't know Itsuwa, but I do know one thing. It can't be anything good if it involves that rat spy." Kanzaki snarled, seething at the spy's name.

"Probably, but what I can't figure out is why she wants to go a date auction." Agnese interjected, relaxing in one of the planes comfy chair. "We're nuns; at least Orsola, the Archbishop, and I are. We're supposed to stay celibate."

"Do you think that we'll see Kamijou-san there?" Orsola inquired suddenly. The other three women flinched slightly at the name, their faces flushing pink slightly.

"Wh-who knows?" The former leader of the Amakusa Catholic Church stuttered, quickly looking out the window looking for Laura on the tarmac.

Just where exactly WAS she?

Shouldn't she have been her by now? It wasn't like her to be late like this.

It was then that the overhead speakers crackled to life.

"_Good afternoon ladies~," _Laura sang. "_I'm afraid that something has come up here at the last moment, and I won't be able to make the flight."_

"Ok, then we'll get off –" Agnese began, but was interrupted by the plane door locking shut tightly, followed by the sounds of the plane engines roaring to life. She began to fear for the worst.

"_That doesn't mean you four can't go and enjoy yourselves."_ The young Archbishop continued, as if nothing had happened. The plane shuddered as it began to slowly taxi along the ground. _"Just two things to note really: one, Kamijou Touma is scheduled to appear in the date auction…"_

That caught the attention of all four girls almost immediately.

If that was true…

Itsuwa's hand twitched towards her large bag seated next to her, as if ready to pull out her wallet and count all the money she had.

Agnese Sanctis flushed a deep red, glancing around the room and quietly mumble to herself.

Kanzaki Kaori twitched slightly before shaking her head and glanced out the window watching the ground slowly get further and further away.

Orsola Aquinas, on the other hand, only smiled, then giggled, and held her softly blushing cheeks while whispering quietly to herself, "No, we mustn't Kamijou-san…"

"_Two, there should be about 200,000 yen in the bag on board." _The voice giggled. _"That's all I wanted to say, really. Have a good time girls."_

With that, the overhead speakers crackled off once more.

A quick search of the cabin revealed a large wheeled suitcase with the promised money.

"Well…what should we do?" Itsuwa asked the one question on everyone's mind.

"What CAN we do?" Agnese sighed, slumping back down into her seat. She closed her eyes, trying to get some sleep. It would be a long plane trip down to Japan, after all. "We might just want to follow up on this tip, see if it's real or not."

The other three women fell into a somewhat-comfortable silence. Each of them had different things on their minds, but they all hoped in their hearts that the Archbishop's tip wasn't wrong.

For now…only time could tell as the plane continued its journey to Academy City.

* * *

><p>The blonde English woman giggled as she placed the speaker back onto its hook having finished her job.<p>

She may be tough to subordinates from time to time, but that doesn't mean that she wouldn't spoil them like this every so often.

As she turned to leave the radio tower room, she couldn't help but give herself some praise.

She was such a good leader. She was CERTAIN that these women would be happy when they returned after their night of 'fun' and ready to tackle the unpleasant tasks ahead of them.

* * *

><p>Academy City was bustling with excitement as people prepared for what the rumors said would be the single most exciting night of the year. All throughout the day of the date auction, catering vans crammed full of tables, chairs, and other equipment were quickly shuttled to and from various districts and set up for the event happening later that night.<p>

As the auction's start-up time drew ever-closer, people began to make their way to the Taisei Arena were the date auction was going to be held.

Some of those people had signed up for the auction, the others would arrive later.

Each person that had signed up had been told to check in at least two hours before the auction itself was to kick off.

Yamagishi Reika of Anti-Skill was not a person to lose her cool when pressure was upon her. Though her friends would argue that statement, the fact that she could keep a good head on her shoulders was what allowed her to become one of the six people in charge of making sure that all those who had signed up to participate had arrived safely and on time.

What they didn't tell her, until later, was the fact that she'd also be in charge of the retrieval teams for the no-showers, those people who hadn't shown up by the two hour early requirement. She had the unenviable job of mobilizing the people in groups of either two or three and have them gather up the missing people and to bring them in as peacefully as possible.

So far, with all the lists combined, only about twenty people seemed to be missing from check in. That should be easy enough, she decided. It should only take around forty-five minutes if they hustle, and if there were no runners either.

"Ok people, these are your targets…" Yamagishi began, handing out the forms to the twenty other groups. "It'll be your job to find these people and bring them in. We do this peacefully and calmly. Are there any questions?"

Seeing one hand go up, she nodded to her coworker. "Yes?"

"What if the person isn't at home? What if something came up and they can't make it?" the random male asked. The other people around him nodded, understanding his perspective. Some things were just unexpected and when that happens, they may be forced to suddenly change their plans. Even if they didn't plan on doing so earlier.

"Good question…" The Anti-Skill captain sighed, mulling over the answers. "Just… just do what you can, then. Try your best in finding them as well as convincing them to come and join. If they need a ride, then give' em one then. Are there any other questions?"

Seeing them all shake their heads no, she nodded. "Ok then. Dismissed!" she barked.

The other Anti-Skill members slapped their boots together, saluting her. The Judgment members looked confused as they watched the spectacle.

"Yes ma'am!" The Anti-Skill group barked in unison, turning swiftly on their heels and marching out as their temporary Judgment partners running to catch up with them.

Reika could only smile at the leaving groups, but quickly spotted a group consisting only of Judgment members. Feeling somewhat restless and figuring they might need some additional help, she called out to the departing pari.

"Excuse me you two, but…" Reika asked politely. "Who do you have?"

"Someone named…" said the male of the Judgement duo checked a piece of paper. "…Kamijou Touma."

* * *

><p>Kamijou Touma sneezed, quickly turning his head at the last second in order to avoid getting germs on the food.<p>

"Bless you Touma." Index called out to him from where she was playing with Sphinx on the floor.

"Thanks Index." Touma replied as he went back to cutting the vegetables for dinner.

"Neh…Touma…" the silver haired nun began as she looked up and over at her roommate. "What's a date auction?"

That question alone caused Touma to slip and nearly cut his finger. Thankfully, he missed.

"W-well, why would you ask, Index?"

"It's been all over the TV lately, and people over the city won't talk about anything else." The gluttonous nun explained, looking curious.

"Uh…well…" the unlucky boy stammered, desperately trying to find the right words. "A date auction is where people…uh… they bid against each other for the right to out on a date with the person up for auction."

Index sat there for a minute, contemplating his words before nodding her head in sudden understanding. "I see. Then, if you were in the auction, I could try and bid for you as well?"

"Yeah, I guess you could Index-san." Touma answered, somewhat amused by her presumption. Mind you, there was a small nagging feeling at the back of his mind that he just couldn't shake for some strange reason.

"How much do you think it'll cost?" the nun wondered aloud. Touma gulped, not entirely sure on how to answer her, much less wanting to know why she'd ask such a question.

A knock at the door, quickly diverted both of their attention. Touma thanked whoever was listening for the momentary distraction. Heading to the door and peeking through the peephole to see who it was, his heart nearly stopped once he saw the members of Judgment led by an Anti-Skill member waiting outside his front door.

He quickly went through any reason that could warrant a sudden visit and could find nothing that he could think of, offhand. Nevertheless, he was sweating bullets as he answered the door.

"Y-yes, what can I do for you tonight, officers?" the scared teen asked. He sincerely hoped that he hadn't done anything wrong.

The Anti-Skill officer, with teal-colored hair in a bob cut, opened her mouth to speak. But she was interrupted by one of her subordinates, an angry-looking Judgment officer with dark hair.

"Are you Kamijou Touma?" He asked curtly, pushing his glasses back up his nose.

"Yeah…" Touma drawled uncertainly as he stepped out a little further. "Wha-"

"We need you to come with us. Now," The dark-haired man said coldly, cutting Touma off from saying anything further. "You missed check-in."

He jerked his head to one side, an unspoken order for Touma to follow him, as he turned and left the group behind. The female Judgment member, an average-looking woman, only sighed and shook her head in exasperation at her coworker's antics. She quickly offered Touma a gentle and friendly smile.

"Sorry about that. He's just very serious about his job, so he tends to forget to smile and relax. "She explained kindly. "You're not in any kind of trouble, Kamijou-san."

The Anti-Skill captain sighed tiredly as she patted Touma on the shoulder. "Let's go kid, we'll explain on the way back."

Touma could only nod quietly as he turned to leave with the others, but it was the sound of the door opening behind him that reminded him of something important. Turning around, he saw Index standing there, looking confused and reminding him that he just couldn't leave her alone so suddenly like this.

"Excuse me, but…" He began, getting the Anti-Skill officer's attention. "Do you mind if we can bring my friend along as well?"

The officer shrugged her shoulders. "I don't see why not. I'm sure she'll have fun in the audience."

Touma gave her a quick bow of thanks. Turning back to Index, he motioned her to follow.

"Let's go Index. We're going where with these officers apparently."

Index nodded her head, closing the door behind her and making sure that it was locked. Picking up Sphinx, she quickly caught up to them and turned to look at Touma. "Are you in trouble, Touma?" she asked Imagine Breaker suspiciously.

"No, I'm not." Touma said, looking contemplative. "They said that they'd explain it on the way."

It wasn't until they were halfway to their location that they finally explained WHY they'd come to get him. His reaction to said news was nothing short of expected of him.

"WHAT?" He exploded, surprise and dread catching him completely off-guard. "What do you mean, I'm in the city's date auction?"

"Are you deaf? It's exactly as I said," The male Judgement member, Asuma, snapped. "You** did** sign the form and turn it in, didn't you?"

"No! I don't remember doing **ANYTHING** like that." Touma groaned, holding his head in despair as Index glared at him. "Where's your proof?"

Asuma sighed in agitation, pulling out the registration form for Touma to see. "Isn't this your handwriting?"

Imagine Breaker's hand shook as he took the offered form and scanned it. His eyes roamed over every inch of the paper making sure it wasn't just some weird hallucination brought upon him by stress.

But sadly for him, this hallucination was very much real.

It was DEFINITELY his handwriting.

But…but when did he…?

Suddenly realization hit him like a ton of bricks.

"Damn it! Aogami and Tsuchimikado tricked me!" Touma howled in anger and despair, surprising everyone else in the car.

"Hmm?" The average-looking woman from Judgment groaned as the car stopped at a red light. She sighed as she realized what he had just said.

Just what they needed; a joke sign-up. "So I take it you won't be participating then?" she sighed.

The spiky haired boy nodded apologetically. "Yeah…I'm sorry."

"That's too bad…" The Anti-Skill officer mumbled.

"Why is that?" Index wondered politely, having heard every word.

"All proceeds from tonight's event goes to budgets for various municipal functions around the city." The male Judgment member grunted. Glancing into the rear view mirror, from where he was sitting in the shotgun seat, he noted he'd ensnared the boy's attention.

Maybe, just maybe, she could make this work to their advantage. "That would also include helping out those poor unfortunate Child Errors…"

"What are Child Errors?" Index asked, an inquisitive look on her face at the strange word.

The teal-haired Anti-Skill member smirked lightly as she jumped into the conversation, dragging the boy along with words.

"What we call 'Child Errors' are orphans or abandoned children that Academy City takes in as words of the state. We've been low on funding ever since all of those weird incidents with the Roman Catholic Church…" Touma winched internally, twitching at the memory of the C-Document incident.

She shrugged, as if she was discussing the weather. "The Superintendent figured that the date auction would help the Child Errors out. You know, flush their funding a little, maybe help them have a better life, if only by a small bit…" she trailed off, leaving Touma to his own thoughts.

Now to wait for the fish to nibble at the bait.

Was it really okay to still back out of this now?

Sure, but…there **was** someone he could help out just by sacrificing himself for ONE date with a girl.

His helpful nature was nagging at him to take the job, but his selfish side was arguing that he shouldn't have to stick his neck out when Aogami and Tsuchimikado was responsible for leaving in this predicament in the first place.

What was he going to do? He grabbed at his head, groaning. He needed to think more.

Touma sat in the crowded backseat of the car, lost in thought over his next course of action. He was so lost in contemplations that he never realized that the car had stopped. That is, until the female Judgement member, Kagome, called out to him.

"What have you decided, Kamijou-san?" She asked giving him a gentle smile.

"I'll…" Touma began, faltering as he glanced out the window. He could see more people walking past him, heading towards either the door near them or towards the front.

He knew what his decision was, but he just KNEW that his terrible luck would make sure that he was going to regret it. "I'll… I'll do it." He mumbled, slumping in his seat.

"That's the spirit kid!" Yamagishi cheered flashing him a thumbs up. "The Child Errors and the city thank you for your participation."

Hook, line, and sinker.

The teal-haired woman smirked as Touma stepped out of the car with a small smile on his face.

Touma glanced around once more, taking in all the people around him. It reminded him of back then…back when-

"Good, now why don't you go through that door over there and finish check-in." The Anti-Skill captain offered as she pointed to a nearby door. Taking Index by the shoulder, she gently pulled the nun along with her, away from Touma. "I'll take your friend into the audience for you. Have fun, Kamijou-san."

This left Touma to his own thoughts. As he made his way to the door, he could only hope that tonight wouldn't end in misfortune.

Tonight…there would be no such luck for this one misfortunate soul.

* * *

><p>Tsuchimikado Motoharu sniggered gleefully as he closed the front door. He'd seen both Touma and Index leaving with the three-man JudgmentAnti-Skill taskforce, and had witnessed the confrontation from the beginning.

While he really wished that he could've seen the look on his friends face when he found out about what was going on, he was perfectly fine with seeing his friend sweat bullets instead.

His stomach growled loudly, and he remembered that he hadn't eaten yet. He might as well go and see if Maika had finished cooking dinner yet.

"Heh…this is your fault Kami-yan~." Tsuchimikado sang gleefully. "Nah, Maika-chan, is din-"

A knock at the door interrupted him. Scowling angrily at the late-night interloper, he took a quick peek through the peephole to see who would DARE interrupt his precious time with his cute little (step) sister. What he saw made his blood run ice cold. It was a small group of Anti-Skill and Judgement members waiting just outside the door.

What were THEY doing here? He hadn't left any trails leading back to him, did he?

Maybe he should try and escape out the back…

"Aren't you going to answer the door onii-chan?" Maika's voice rang out from the kitchen. "It's rude to keep people waiting you know."

Tsuchimikado gulped waving her off. "It's nothing Maika-chan. Just some ki-"

Suddenly, the door interrupted him, shaking as someone began banging on it with a fist. Chuckling weakly, Tsuchimikado did the only thing he could do think of; answering the door.

"Yeah? What's up officers?" He asked coolly with his ever persistent smirk on his face.

"Tsuchimikado Motoharu?" The Judgement member asked politely. Seeing the boy nod, the older teen continued on. "You've missed check-in for tonight's function. We came to remind you and bring you along."

"Huh?" The Blond teen was confused. What were they talking about? "I don't remember signing up-"

"Ehh~? Didn't I tell you onii-chan?" His cute little sister whined cutely, popping up behind him. "I got you all signed up for tonight's events a couple weeks ago."

"Huh? When did you-?" He suddenly trailed off, remembering the sheet of paper Maika had gotten him to sign shortly after he tricked Kami-yan into signing his doom. "That sheet…why Maika?"

"Because…" The High Class Maid (in training) began, before her face fell into her hands and she began sobbing softly. She glanced up at him, tears in the corners of her eyes. "Because…I thought it'd be good for the little kids! Please? Please do this one thing for me, onii-chan!"

Tsuchimikado could feel his will weakening as he watched Maika.

He groaned in defeat as he let his head droop, his necklaces jangling from the sudden movement.

Why?

Why did he have to be such a sucker against Maika's cutesy acts?

Sighing deeply, he gave a single solemn nod.

"All right…I'll do it. But only for you Maika-chan."

Maika whooped loudly, happily throwing her arms around her brother's waist in a tight hug.

"Yahoo! Thank you onii-chan!" she said, as the Anti-Skill and Judgement members shrugged with indifference and left with Tsuchimikado in tow.

Their job was complete. Who were they to complain or question on how it was done?

"I'll be there in a moment. I just have to turn the stove off." The dark haired girl called out to him, slipping back into the apartment.

Maika chuckled maliciously as she slipped the fake tear bottle back into her pocket before walking out of the apartment locking the door behind her.

'_You're making this too easy, onii-chan.'_ Maika thought to herself as she jogged to catch up to the group.

Tonight was going to be fun.

Especially for her.

* * *

><p>Misaka WORST was bored. VERY bored in fact.<p>

Accelerator could attest to the fact, though a tad reluctant to do so, that a bored Misaka WORST was a ticking time bomb of misfortune for anyone. But how long it would be before she went off on someone or something was anyone's guess.

Why was it that on the arguably most fun night of the year, she was bored as hell?

Why couldn't she be more excited about tonight, like that hyperactive ball of energy Last Order?

Oh.

That's right.

She didn't have any money to use for tonight!

Last Order had been given 10,000 yen by Yomikawa and had said something about how she'd coaxed the six sisters still in Academy City into helping her to buy Accelerator when he came up for auction.

When WORST had asked for some cash herself, Yomikawa had ignored her. Was that glamoursly-proportioned tomboy **still** holding a grudge from that incident with the blue hair dye in her shampoo?

To be fair, though, she'd gotten bored around the time of that incident as well.

WORST couldn't help but feel a tad upset that the little brat hadn't come to her for help as well.

But then again…she probably would've made it worse.

Ok fine.

Maybe she felt a TINY LITTLE BIT jealous that Last Order could pull off something like this.

WORST was pulled from her thoughts when she felt a tug on her sleeve. Turning to look at the source of the tug, she was surprised to see some half pint blond haired brat at her side.

"Excuse me, nee-chan," The kid said, in a cheerful voice that grated on her. "I was wondering if I could talk to you about something?"

"Ehh?" The clone raised an eyebrow at the brave kid. Who is this little brat? "About what?"

The kid placed a heavy looking black briefcase in front of him. "I want to make a proposition."

The blonde child laid the briefcase on a nearby bench and popped the lid open. Turning it around to face the Misaka clone, WORST could feel her eyes shot open in shock when she saw what was inside the briefcase.

Money.

A LOT of money.

There were at least ten stacks of 5000-yen bills. She had never seen that much money in person, let alone held by one person and much less a snot nosed brat like this. She cast a suspicious glance at him, wondering WHO he was and just WHAT he was planning.

"What kind of proposition, Misaka wonders as she tries to count all the money."

"There is a million yen in this briefcase." The child stated, closing the briefcase with a snap. "I want you to use this money and purchase a certain…person…in the auction for me."

"Who?"

"The strongest esper in the city: Accelerator."

The older Misaka clone could only grin in triumph as she glanced at the briefcase.

What luck! This snot nosed brat was offering her the EXACT chance that she'd been wanting all day!

She knew she should take this chance and run with it.

"Just one last question…why him?"

The brat before her gave her the most evil grin she had ever seen on a child as he glanced up at her.

"Let's just say we have a…history…together." The blond child spoke coolly, running his hand through his slicked blonde hair.

"Heh, I like you, kid." WORST grunted. "I'll take your deal. Just one thing…" she added, a playful smirk on her lips. "What do I call you?"

"If you must call me by a name…" the kid said grinning and displaying a set of fangs. "You can all me Junior."

* * *

><p>Haruno Keniichi was a VERY charismatic person, capable of drawing a large crowd's attention upon him and keeping it focused there for hours at times.<p>

So it came as no surprise to him when Academy City hired him to MC the auction.

Despite being a season veteran at being on stage, he still had sinking feelings of despair in his stomach from time to time.

Tonight was no different

However, he'd be ready, willing, and gearing up for the event at about this time.

But with tonight's event, however…There was something off about the whole thing.

He just couldn't quite place a finger on it.

"It's nothing…" He kept at his mantra. He really wanted to believe it himself, but he just couldn't shake off this dark feeling of uncertainty. "Everything will go fine and tonight will be fantastic, a real night to remember."

Glancing at his watch, he figured that it was time to head to the stage. Fixing his bow tie, he grabbed his headpiece and slipped it on his ear with practiced ease.

Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves once more, he made his way to the stage quickly.

"Showtime..." He whispered to himself as he stared at the crowd of people before him. It was quite a large group of people. Larger the anything he's done in LONG while.

A sea of faces, truly was a sight to behold, stared back at him. But it was nothing before him.

He's Academy City's master MC. If he ran now, he would lose everything he had worked so hard to build up for himself.

Pressing the power button on his headset, hearing the familiar hum of life from the sound system, he gave a quick cough to clear his throat.

The lights in the room began to dim quickly catching everyone's attention.

"Hello ladies and gentlemen!" Kenichii called out, his voice echoing and ringing through the room by way of the room's amazing sound system.

A single spot light fell onto him. "Welcome, one and all, to the first** EVER** Academy City Date Auction!"

The cheers and applause was thundering, but to him, it was music to his ears.

**This** is what he lived for.

He would **NOT** let tonight end badly.

"Before we begin, I'd like to take some time to go over some rules that were NOT covered in the pamphlets you all received at the door."

The sounds of rustling papers were heard as people began to leaf through most of the rules and regulations for the event.

"In addition to who can bid for who, how the dates are done, and various others things, I'd like to let you all know that there **ARE** rules in place meant to protect both the buyer and the biddy." The MC of the evening announced.

"There will be no sexual or physical abuse from either party. If there are cases of such activities reported, both Judgment and Anti-Skill will punish you to the fullest extent of the law. You **have** been warned, so don't say otherwise."

The crowd fell silent as they took in every word. They could tell that this was a serious matter and that they should bid in confidence and be confident in bidding as well.

"Now onto lighter rules…" the finely dressed MC said getting a few chuckles from the mood whiplash. "Payment will be due shortly after you have won your auction. The people at the desk to my right…"

Kenichii waved his arm to the right, the spotlight on him panning in that direction to the desk filled by three Anti-Skill members.

"…Will require your names, the name of the person you bought at auction and the amount of money that either you or your group spent in total."

The spotlight fell back onto Kenichii again. He grinned as he raised a single hand into the air, and with a loud snap of his fingers, several spotlights flooded the stage.

"Now…!" He roared excitedly. The cheers of the people seemed to slowly growing louder and louder as the audience's collective excitement began to build. "Let's start the bidding!"

The entire room broke into loud applause, wild cheering, and a grand sense of excitement.

Everybody in the room was glad for the event to FINALLY begin.

"First up on stage, we have one of the city's strongest espers. The man running on guts, courage, and the power of the sun…" The MC spoke fervently.

The room seemed to be hanging onto his every word.

As expected of an MC of his caliber. " Level 5 esper, SOOOOOOGIITAAAA GUUUNHAAAAA!"

It had been due to executive meddling that had allowed Gunha to even go first. Their reasoning was that Gunha would excite the crowd quickly and set a pace that everybody would hopefully follow.

Gunha was there to make sure that everybody was willing to spend a lot of money. To that end, everything that Kenichii had said had been put together by researchers, as would everything else about the following Level 5's.

But the crowd didn't need to know that.

A large cloud of smoke exploded in the middle of the stage starling everyone, but the smoke didn't last very long. It quickly blew away revealing Gunha standing there.

He had a happy grin on his face, and his arms crossed over his chest.

"Good evening, Academy City!" Gunha bellowed, the entire room bursting into cheers with him.

"A very impressive entrance, Gunha-san." Kenichii applauded politely. "Before we begin, why don't you tell us a little about yourself? What you like or dislike, or maybe even your dreams?"

Gunha nodded his head, glancing upwards as he tried to decide on what to say.

"Hmm…" Gunha hummed before looking into the sea of faces. "I like helping others, cats, and guts! I dislike criminals. As for my dreams…I have just one…to be able to one day join Judgement!"

The crowd cheered loudly at his enthusiasm, fan girls screaming in joy. Kenichii chuckled as he called attention back to himself.

"You heard him ladies and gentlemen…" The MC announced as a spotlight fell onto Gunha.

"We will start bidding at 10,000 yen…do I hear 10,000?"

"10,000!"

"I have 10, do I hear 11,000?"

"11!"

"I hear 11,000, how about 12,000?"

"13,000!"

"14,000!"

"17,000!" A group of girls suddenly chorused in unison, being the first of many groups to come for the night.

The bidding continued to climb higher and higher.

More and more groups were formed.

The excitement in the room seemed to reach a peek with him.

But this was all because of one reason.

People wanted Gunha.

They knew that he was one of the kinder and more sane Level 5's, even if sanity was something that was hotly contested when it came to the Level 5's in general.

Gunha just stood there, smiling at everyone. He was glad to see everyone here and having fun.

He'd never gone out on a date before, mostly because he spent most of his time trying to help everybody in Academy City that he could do…

Within reason, mind you. He didn't really mind doing something like this if it meant that he could help other people.

"100,000!" A single group called out. The group seemed to be composed of fifteen girls who'd banded together and determined to win.

"I hear 100,000. Do I hear any other bids?" Kenichii asked loudly.

Nobody would say anything.

At this point, the auction was far too rich for their blood.

Besides, there would always be other people who'd also be coming up for auction later on in the evening.

"Going once…! Going twice….!" Haruno Keniichi yelled. Hearing no one else, he gestured to the girls who'd offered a hundred-thousand yen. "SOLD! For 100,000 yen!"

The group of students cheered loudly as they approached the desk.

Gunha smiled thankfully before flashing them thumbs up.

"Well ladies and gentlemen, THAT was an exciting first auction, wasn't it? Let's see if we can keep up this exciting pace!" Kenichii exclaimed, pulling out a small PDA.

"Well, then… up next folks, we have from Judgement…"

The event continued on and on, people come and went.

The audience bid on those up for auction, some lost and others won.

But the overall price never once reached the height that it had when Gunha was on stage.

In the end, everybody there was having a good time and was really enjoying themselves.

People cheered and laughed.

Nobody wanted the night to end.

* * *

><p>Uiharu Kazari was nervous.<p>

She was up next and she had butterflies fluttering around in her stomach that just wouldn't go away.

It wasn't always like this of course.

From when she first found out about what she was going to have to do, she was excited.

She had imagined all sorts of things that could happen between her and the guy that won her auction.

She had wondered what type of guy he would, where he would take her, what they would do.

She had even imagined what would happen if a girl had won her auction as well.

Naturally, of course, the thoughts about what could happen tended to stay pure. She'd never gone out on a date before and didn't have confidence in her body being attractive to people of the opposite sex.

That and she was also constantly busy with Judgment work, she never really found the time to try and make friends with the boys.

Now that her auction was up next, she had started to worry.

What if no one bid on her?

What if something went wrong and the guy turned out to be a real creep?

Why, oh why, did these worries have to start popping up now?

It was the MC's call that pulled out from her thoughts.

"Up next, we have Judgment's 177th Branch Office's very own…" Kenichii's voice rang out. It was time to go. "Uiharu Kazari!"

The flower wearing girl gulped nervously as she stepped onto the stage and made her way up to the side of the MC. Uiharu blushed, extremely embarrassed, before bowing to the crowd politely.

"So, Uiharu-san…" Kenichii spoke gently, noting how nervous the young girl looked. "Why don't you tell us a little about yourself?"

The middle school girl nodded her head as she quickly though about what to say.

Then she noticed her friends, Misaka Mikoto, Shirai Kuroko, and Saten Ruiko, all smiling cheerfully at her and silently cheering her on. This was what allowed her to FINALLY relax and be herself on stage.

"Umm…my name is Uiharu Kazari, age 14…" She began, smiling demurely. "I like sweets very much, and computers. I hate it when the bad guys get away. For my dreams… well, that's a secret, so don't ask me about that, please~."

Uiharu giggled to herself as she waved shyly to the crowd. hey seemed to go wild at her shy cuteness.

Kenichii chucked softly as he turned towards the crowd glancing around. "You heard her folks…let's start the bidding at 3000 yen. Do I hear 3200?"

"3300!"

"3400!"

"3700!"

Uiharu blushed deeply. She was excited. All her nervousness from before had disappeared.

Now… now, she was all excited about how this would end. Her price continued to climb higher and higher. Seconds passed before her price alone broke the 10,000 yen mark.

"Ok folks, we're at 12,000 yen. Do I hear any other bids?" Kenichii bellowed. Uiharu's price had only climbed that high because a few dedicated students who had found her not only cute, but were also curious as to what what she knew about computers.

"Going once…going twice…!" Kenichii offered loudly. When no one else yelled out for an amount, he banged his gavel down and bellowed, "Sold! For 12,000 yen!"

People clapped politely and cheered loudly as Uiharu gave her buyers a polite bow, smiling happily as they passed by her on their way to the collection desk.

"Congratulations to Uiharu-san and her buyers! I hope you all have fun and a good time." Kenichii said, pulling out his trusty PDA, as Uiharu walked off stage. She was blushing red, looking happily, and had a generally- dreamy look on her face.

"Up next, we have a captain with Anti-Skill who's also a teacher in high school! Come on out, Yomikawa Aiho!"

Yomikawa wore a broad and cheesy grin as she walked on stage. Spotting Last Order waving to her in the crowd, she waved back cheerfully.

"Looks like we've got a real winner here, folks!" Kenichii whistled in admiration. Yomikawa was wearing a slinky black that accentuated her voluptuous curves and held her already impressive bust up to proportions that were usually seen in anime and manga that provided blatant amount of fanservice.

"Is there anything you would like to tell the crowd about yourself before we begin, Yomikawa-san?" The aging MC asked, amidst a sudden flurry of wolf-whistles and catcalls.

Yomikawa smirked playfully at the lecherous noises, turning towards the crowd.

"Let's have fun tonight ladies and gentlemen! Let's see what you got!" She hollered, challenging her audience.

Some of the people in the crowd certainly took her implied dare. They began to cheer loudly, all but whooping their heads off. The excitement continued to build into frenzied activity.

"You heard her folks!" The MC roared gleefully, purposely building the excitement. Everybody who wanted to bid was now on the tips of their toes, ready to shoot out their bids as quick as they could.

"I think that we'll start at 8000! Do I hear 8100?"

"8100!"

"8200!"

"8300!"

The priced continued to climb and climb quickly, much to Yomikawa's amusement. The glamorously-proportioned tomboy just stood there, a broad grin on her face, a hand on her hips, and posing herself show off as much of her body as possible.

"I am currently at 20,000 yen." The MC reiterated for the crowd. "Are there any other bids? Going once… going twice… SOLD!"

A small group of Anti-Skill coworkers and students rejoiced loudly.

They'd won their blue-haired beauty on stage and they couldn't be happier.

"Well folks, we have effectively reached the half way point in tonight's event! Let's take a forty-five minute intermission before we continue?" Kenichii said as the lights on the stage dimmed.

"When we come back, we'll have ANOTHER of the city's Level 5's upon stage. Straight off the bat, just for all of you guys in the audience!"

Amidst howls of anticipatory glee, Haruno Kenichii turned off his ear-microphone. Waving goodbye to the crowd, he walked off stage. He **really** needed a break.

END CHAPTER 3


	4. Bids, Secrets, and Finale

Well guys...this is it. The finale. The FINAL chapter of my 4 (originally 3) chapter fic. I do hope that you all enjoy. If you like it, then leave a review. Reviews make me happy, whether they're good reviews, bad reviews, or just 'meh' reviews. Reviews let me know where my strengths and weakness lie. They show what I could do to make my future stories better.

Also, if you like this story and want to rec it to others, then do so. Place it somewhere people can find it. The more people see this story and read it, the better.

Welp...it's time to begin~. Enjoy~. I would like to thank my beta, Reikson, greatly for all of the work he has done for this fic.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the To Aru Majutsu no Index/To Aru Kagaku Railgun series, they belong to their original owners.

* * *

><p>Himegami Aisa sighed wearily as she walked through the large crowd, her eyes scanning the magnitude of faces laughing, chatting, and enjoying themselves. They looked like they were having so much fun that she wanted to join in.<p>

She didn't even know why she was even here. Maybe it was because everyone was so adamant about being here that she felt like going along with them. Maybe it was because of her woman's intuition kept telling her that she NEEDED to be here tonight or she'd regret it.

Whatever the reason, she was here and that was that.

As she looked around again, she began to doubt whether or not she would actually find someone she knew. Maybe she should just head-

"Himegami!" a female voice called out from behind her.

The long-haired girl whirled around, her eyes darting about for the source of the voice. She quickly found it, turning out to be her one (and maybe only) true friend, Fukiyose Seiri. The Deep Blood user sighed contently at the sight of the big-breasted girl.

"Hello Fukiyose-san," Himegami greeted politely. "I'm glad to see you here. I was afraid that I wasn't going to find anyone I knew here."

"I know what you mean," the 'Iron Wall' nodded, glancing at the many people around them. "But it's amazing what we can pull off at times, huh?"

The two girls fell silent once more as they glanced around again, taking in the grandeur of the date auction. A flash of silverish-white hair caught Himegami's eye, prompting her to turn around to look at the hopeful sight.

Was that-?

"Huh? Is that-?" she mumbled, catching the faux class rep's attention.

"Who?" Fukiyose asked as she looked in the direction her friend was staring towards. "Did you see someone else?"

"No…I lost them." Himegami admitted. He throat felt dry.

She needed a drink. "Are you thirsty, Fukiyose?"

The big-breasted girl nodded, and the two set off to find the drink table, chatting happily the entire way.

"Why, if it isn't my two cute kohai…" A laughing female voice called out to them from behind the punch bowl. Turning to see who was talking, Himegami and Fukiyose came face to face with their Senpai, Kumokawa Seria.

"Good evening Kumokawa-senpai," Himegami greeted politely. "What a surprise to see you here."

"Same to you as well," Kumokawa replied, smiling slyly at the two. "Are you two having fun?"

"I guess," Fukiyose said glancing at the stage. "There isn't anyone really interesting on stage yet."

"Not even the Level 5's?" The High School Senior questioned, drinking her juice. Seeing the girls shake their heads no, she smiled thinly. "I'm the same, really, although…the REAL show will be later. It'll be a real surprise."

She giggled, causing Fukiyose to raise an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" The 'Iron Wall' demanded suspiciously.

Kumokawa's smile gave way to an insufferable smirk as she waved goodbye to both of them. "You'll see. After all, what fun would it be if I told you now?"

The two high school girls blinked in confusion, left wondering what their senpai's cryptic words meant.

* * *

><p>Musujime Awaki sighed in relief as she teleported into an empty hallway. Glancing around, she grinned as she made a dash towards the computer room.<p>

The red-headed teleporter had a mission, given to her personally by Crowley. If she completed this mission, then tonight would a LOT more fun… well, according to him, anyway. All she had to do was pop the USB drive into the computer and upload whatever was on it to the computer's mainframe and then get out. She didn't know what was on it, nor did she really care.

Hearing someone coming around the corner, she hit the brakes and hid behind some boxes. Hoping that they'd pass by quickly, she caught a peek of the intruders and her eyes widened in surprise when she noticed a familiar mop of blond spikes and sunglasses alongside a boy with spiky dark hair.

Tsuchimikado Motoharu and Kamijou Touma.

They seemed to be arguing about something. Awaki strained her ears to try and hear what they were saying.

"Why the hell did you do this, Tsuchimikado?" Touma yelled angrily at his friend's betrayal.

"Because I thought that it'd be fun to watch you struggle," Tsuchimikado snickered. "Don't get so worked up, Kami-yan. It's all in good fun."

Touma growled momentarily before smirking and jabbing at the blond spy's chest, sneering, "At least I won't have to suffer through this alone." The number sticker plastered on the blond's chest, far lower than Touma's, displayed the double agent being shanghaied into the auction as well.

The two continued to chat absentmindedly as they walked away. Musujime signed in relief as she stepped out from behind the boxes and straight into another person.

"Sor-" was all she got out before shutting her mouth, her eyes widening in surprise as she realized that she'd just run into Accelerator.

He did **NOT** look happy.

Musujime gulped as she stared at the strongest esper in the city. Then she did the only thing that she could think of, right then and there.

She ran.

She pushed past the albino and ran as fast as she could down the hall. She didn't stop running until she got to the computer room.

Accelerator just stared the retreating red before rolling his eyes and muttering "Idiot."

Musujime panted as she shut the door behind her once more, checking that nobody was following her.

"That was close…" She whispered, pulling a USB stick from her pocket. "Let's do this already," she muttered, not wanting any more complications to occur.

Popping the USB into the computer, her fingers flickered across the keyboard quickly. It was over within seconds. Whatever her bastard asshole of a boss wanted uploaded was uploaded.

Removing the thumb drive from the computer, Musujime made sure that was no trace of her left in the room before teleporting out of there.

Smirking as she stepped out of the woman's restroom, she head towards the far corner of the lobby. There, she noticed another one of her coworkers waiting there patiently, a cup of juice in one hand and a briefcase in the other.

"Yo." She greeted, leaning against the wall.

"Hello." Etzali smiled cheerfully. "Finish what you needed to?"

"Yeah, but you wouldn't believe who I almost ran into back there…" The red-headed teleporter chuckled softly, deciding to not mention her small encounter with Accelerator to him. "I almost ran into Tsuchimikado."

The master of disguises chuckled at the news. "Well then…" He said, adjusting his grip on the briefcase in his left hand. "It sounds like tonight is going to be fun."

Musujime glanced curiously at the briefcase before smirking up at the taller blond boy next to her.

"Ara, ara. Going to try and buy a certain Electroshock Princess, are we?" The Level 4 teleporter teased.

"I have a business meeting soon, that's all." Etzali snapped, keeping himself from looking at his provocatively-dressed coworker.

"Fine, fine, whatever you say," she offered playfully. She knew that the real prize was later, anyway. She just had to be quick and hopefully win early.

* * *

><p>Haruno Kenichii sighed heavily as he made his way back to the stage, straightening his tux. Flicking on his headset, the hum of life was heard from the speakers once more, catching people's attention.<p>

The lights flooded the stage once more, the audience cheering his return. Kenichii grinned broadly as he waved to the crowd, relishing the attention they poured onto him.

"…and we are back ladies and gentlemen." Kenichii shouted. "As I promised, we'll be starting off with one of the city's strongest, a Level 5."

The crowd was frenzied, cheering loudly and generally making a ruckus. Apparently, everyone was ready for the bidding wars to being again.

"Before we begin, though, I have been informed of a small change that we'll now be implementing." The MC stated as a giant screen rolled down from the ceiling. "The screen behind me will be broadcasting data on the various people that come up for auction."

Keniichi had no clue why they'd suddenly changed their mind on doing this. The original plan called for the contestants to put themselves out there instead of him feeding the audience himself. The only people that were going to be exempt from this were the Level 5's, and they'd already been researched extensively.

He really had to wonder why they would do something like this.

Wouldn't this LOWER the interest in people that came up for auction?

Ah, whatever.

People cheered. Whatever the reason, he was paid to MC the auction tonight and that was it.

For their part, the audience began murmuring amongst themselves about the change.

Why was this done?

What will it reveal to them?

There were a lot of questions, but they were all soon forgotten as the next participant walked on stage.

It was Mugino Shizuri, the Meltdowner.

"…and now we present…Mugino Shizuri!" The MC read aloud. "She's one of the city's Level 5 espers, give a round of applause to Meltdowner!"

Mugino kept a calm face amidst the applause as she walked down the stage, her boots clicking with every step she made. People cheered loudly at the auburn haired beauty, the men in the audience thanking whoever was responsible for the auction for giving them the chance to win a date with this lovely young woman with the flawless skin.

She was glad that people couldn't tell that she had scars on her body, or a prosthetic limb, without looking at her very carefully.

As Mugino took her spot next to Keniichi, she let herself smirk as she took in every ounce of applause they had for her, relishing every moment on stage.

With so many people here, there had to be PLENTY of guys who'd pay out of the ass for a chance to go out on a date with her.

This would prove that idiot Hamazura wrong.

Although…

The 4th Level 5 glanced around for her friends quickly, wondering just where they were. Spotting them easily, she gave a small smile at her only true and close friends in the entire world. As her eyes fell upon the only male member of the group, her heart began beating wildly.

Even though she'd admitted to loving Hamazura during their time in Russia, she knew that she'd never step in between Takitsubo and him. Though that didn't mean she couldn't hope he would bid on her…

She was a maiden at heart of course; even if she might not be the most pure one around.

"Mugino-san enjoys shopping, hanging out with her friends, and enjoying a good up of tea on a nice day." The MC's voice rang out loudly, pulling the Level 5 from her thoughts. "Is there anything you would like to add to that, Mugino-san?"

Mugino shook her head, feeling that whatever was said was good enough for her.

Kenichii smiled softly turning towards the crowd once more.

"Well, then, ladies and gentlemen…" he smirked, deliberately holding back in order to draw up both tension and excitement from the crowd. "…we'll start bidding at 15,000 yen. Do I have 15,000?"

"15,000!"

"16,000!"

"25,000!"

Mugino's price quickly began to skyrocket in a hard fought battle.

Nobody wanted to yield to anyone else for the right of going out on a date with a Level 5.

Thanks to a few stubborn guys banding together, her price tag had soon broken the 150,000 yen mark.

Mugino had to admit though, all of them were totally hot.

"I have 200,000. Do I hear any other bids?" The MC declared, glancing around the room to make sure that he hadn't missed anybody that was willing to throw out a higher bid.

There seemed to be no one else willing to fight.

"Going once…" Silence reigned.

"Going twice…" No one said a word, some hoping that SOMEONE would be willing to fight again.

"SOLD! For 200,000 yen!"

The small group of winners hooted and hollered in triumph.

To them they were the lucky few, the ones that got the chance to date a Level 5.

Mugino gave a flirty smile to her winners waving to them as she stepped off stage making her way over to where her friends were waiting for her.

"I told ya Hamazura." Mugino gloated. Deep down, she felt a little disappointed that he didn't even try to bid. "Now let's see what you have to offer."

The blond Skill Out sighed wearily, nodding his head.

"You win, Mugino," Hamazura admitted. He knew that he would've lost a while ago. "You've proved that you did indeed have a group of guys willing and wanting to date you."

"Will Hamazura Shiage please come on stage?"

Hamazura sighed once more as he began to head towards the stage, but not before calling back to his girlfriend. "Remember what you promised, Rikou."

The girl in pink nodded her head as she watched her boyfriend walk onto the stage. She'd figured that no one would bother bidding much on a level 0, much less a former Skill Out.

"We'll start bidding at 500 yen." Keniichi called out to the audience. "Do I hear 600?"

"600!"

"700!"

"800!"

His price continued to slowly climb, much to ITEM's astonishment.

Was Hamazura really THIS popular?

The Level 4 AIM Stalker began to worry as her boyfriend's price tag soon reached the 3000 mark, which was all the money that she had on her. Did these people REALLY want a so-called bad boy THAT much?

Mugino glanced over at the dark haired girl and saw a downtrodden look on her face.

She could guess, just from a glance, that Takitsubo didn't have enough on hand to win him.

...Maybe she could make this work for her…

"Oi, Takitsubo…" Meltdowner called out, catching her friend's attention. "I take it that you don't have enough to win the auction?"

The girl in the pink jumpsuit nodded her head, looking sad.

"How about I help you?" Mugino offered, glancing away as she blushed softly. "In return, you let me go on a da-… a da-… a **date** with him…"

"Deal." Takitsubo replied instantly.

She knew that Mugino loved Hamazura, but also knew that she wouldn't try and step in between them.

Plus, Mugino was a good friend. Why shouldn't she trust her?

"Good, now let's win this thing." Mugino declared grabbing her friends hand and held both hers and Takitsubo's hand high yelling out loudly. "13,000!"

The audience fell silent as they stared at the unlikely pair.

It was surprising to see the price jump nearly twice of what it had been, especially for a Level 0.

The more surprising part was that a Level 5 of all people was bidding for him.

Hamazura felt his jaw drop in shock. He'd never once expected to go for THAT much money, let alone have for Mugino to come to his rescue like this.

"Are…are there any other bids?" Keniichi called out weakly, slightly shocked.

"Going once…" There were just some things that people never did.

"Going twice…" One of those things was to **NEVER** piss off a Level 5.

"Sold! For 13,000 yen!" This…seemed like one of those times to not push that boundary.

People applauded politely as the pair made their way to the desk to pay. Mugino was so excited…she could hardly wait.

Hamazura was going to have _fun_ with her on his date…whether he wanted to or not.

* * *

><p>"…And sold for 9000 yen to the young maid!" The MC announced, much to Maika's joy. "I hope you enjoy your date, Tsuchimikado-san."<p>

Tsuchimikado grinned as he walked over to his sweet little (step) sister as she finished paying the people at the desk.

"Thanks-nya, Maika-chan."

"Uhn, no problem onii-chan."

"Well then ladies and gentlemen, up next we have…" Keniichi said glancing at his trusty PDA for more info. "Well, we have **another **Level 5! Please give a big round of applause to Mental Out, Shokuhou Misaki!"

The room burst into cheers and applause, but a large portion of the cheers seemed to be coming from a large group of girls. They were Misaki's followers and they were prepared for war.

Misaki had a smile on her face as she walked on stage, waving happily to the crowd before her.

She was excited, partly due to the crowd's infectious cheering, but also partly due to her own desires.

Glancing around the room, she twitched in irritation as she noticed a group of her fans and groupies were huddled together whispering excitedly, handing over large wads of cash to one person.

Frowning, she realized that a certain faction of her fans wouldn't hand her over quietly without putting up a fight. She was honestly tempted to pull out of her remote and use her powers on them, but it would seem strange or people would accuse her of cheating.

In the end, all she could do was hope that her Prince Charming(s) would step up to the plate and hit a homerun.

But if her subordinates wouldn't let them?

Well…

She'd find a way to express the severity of her current displeasure with them.

"Now then!" the MC declared. "Misaki-san enjoys sweets, parfaits to be exact. She also enjoys a good book every so often and…" Keniichi trailed off, somewhat confused by the last entry on Misaki. Turning to the starry-eyed blond girl, he added, "She… enjoys making cute poses?"

"Oh, yes~," Misaki cooed, getting a few chuckles out of the audience. "Like this~."

With that said, Misaki shut one eye closed and held up a sideways peace sign over her open eye. She placed one hand over her hip and stuck her tongue out and off to the side. Overall, it was a very cutesy act that Misaki had done over and over again.

Her little stunt did its job, though; the crowd exploded, cheering loudly for the 5th Level 5 esper. Clearly, they'd fallen for her little cutesy act.

"Well, sounds like it's time to begin!" Keniichi bellowed over the loud audience. "We'll start bidding at 12,000 yen. Do I hear 13,000?"

"13,000!"

"14,000!"

"15-"

"250,000!" People were at how shocked the bid had jumped. Apparently, a large group had made this huge offer, but the audience couldn't tell who had done so.

Misaki sighed softly, knowing exactly WHO the group was.

Why couldn't they just follow her instructions like good minions?

Clearly, she'd have to have a little 'talk' with them later about this blatant insubordination later.

It didn't seem all hopeless for Misaki and her dreams, though. A group of five high school seniors gathered and began to whisper amongst themselves, nodding their heads.

Eventually one of the five turned out raising his hand high and yelling loudly. "300,000!"

Misaki's groupies began to panic, knowing they could very well lose the auction to these strange and unknown men. They began to try and get any additional funds that they could get, but it was just too far out of their reach it seemed.

"Going once…" The groupies looked around hopelessly at their leader.

"Going twice…" Misaki smiled softly, finally enjoying the fact that maybe NOW she'd be able to cross this item off her secret list.

"Sold!" Keniichi roared, and the crowd applauded wildly. "I hope that the lovely Misaki-san enjoys her dates with these nice men."

Misaki smiled happily, waving to the five men that had won her auction as she stepped off stage. Pulling out her remote from her bag, she grinned nastily as she set off to find her insolent subordinates.

Clearly, they needed a lesson about how to take orders and **follow** them.

* * *

><p>The auction continued on and on for a while longer, the number of participants dwindling down as the night dragged on.<p>

"Up next we have **ANOTHER** Level 5! The Electroshock Princess herself, Misaka Mikoto!"

Misaka laughed happily as she stepped onto the stage, waving brightly to the crowd. This was her time to shine….time for her to earn that Gekota Bride doll she'd acquired.

"Misaka-san enjoys reading manga in convenience stores! She's known to have gotten into a few brawls…and won!" Keniichi announced loudly, much to her eternal embarrassment, and making her face flush red. "She also happens to a **HUGE** fan of the Gekota franchise."

The short haired brunette groaned in embarrassment, her hands covering her bright red face.

Oh, how she wished she could just disappear right now.

As Misaka ruminated over this humiliating display thus far, Kuroko felt nothing but pride. She already knew all these facts about her precious and lovable Onee-sama. There was absolutely nothing that Kuroko didn't know about the young lady on stage.

Tonight, Misaka Mikoto would be hers.

Shirai Kuroko would win the auction and take her onee-sama out on a date that the two of them would never forget…especially Kuroko.

It would involve a lovely dinner for two at a lovely restaurant, walk in her favorite park, and finally…a wonderful end at a **LOVELY** secluded hotel she knew was reserved for couples.

Kuroko cackled perversely as she imagined the lovely and wonderful end for the two of them.

Now, there was nothing to do to but wait for the bidding to begin. The twin-pigtailed girl had exhausted almost every source of extra cash that she had. Not all of them, mind you, she **did** have to have some extra cash for the date.

In the end, she had managed to gather 200,000 yen and was more than ready to use it. She truly and honestly didn't believe that there'd be anyone else who could outbid her.

Then again…If a large group got together and did just that, she'd lose.

So she'd have to make sure to place her large bid out there quickly, to throw everybody off their game.

"Well, let's start bidding at 17,000." The MC shouted, glancing around the arena. "Do I hear 18,000?"

"18,000!" One person began.

"19,000!" Another countered.

"21,000!"

Kuroko grinned raising her hand high.

The time was now. She was going to place her bid and win the auction here and now.

"200-"

"700,000!" someone bellowed near her.

The entire auditorium fell silent, not expecting the money to jump THAT high so quickly. They just didn't know what to say or how to react to that.

Kuroko whirled around, glancing around wildly, wanting to see who would **DARE** outbid her for her onee-sama. All she was a lone brunette smiling cheerfully a briefcase in his hand. The angry oujou-sama quickly made her way over to the boy.

"Excuse me, but I was wondering something." She began with a smile politely.

"Yes?" The blonde young man smiled back gently.

"I was wondering if you'd be willing to let me in on your bid." Kuroko said calmly. "I'd be more than willing to pay you what I do have if you let me in."

"Hmm…" Etzali murmured, mulling over the teleporter's offer. He took all of thirty seconds before saying, "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to turn you down."

The yuri-loving teleporter felt her heart sink at the rejection. "Why? If I may be so polite as to ask."

"Because… I just do not want to share." Etzali shrugged, turning back to the stage. "Again, I'm sorry, but that's my final answer."

"Are…are there any other bids?" Keniichi asked, after a few moments of stunned silence in the audience and then remembering where he was and what his job was supposed to be. "Going once…"

"Going twice…" Kuroko's jaw dropped in shock and sadness.

She just couldn't believe it.

She…she lost her onee-sama to this strange boy.

But that didn't mean she should give up.

She still had one chance; **her** auction.

Her date with Misaka Mikoto all came down to her Onee-sama winning her auction.

"Sold! For 700,000 yen!" Keniichi roared, the room exploding into cheers and applause for both the person who won and for the person up on stage.

Etzali gave a small smile, slowly clenching his fist in happiness. Musujime just smirked, chuckling.

"I knew it," The redhead teleporter glanced at the blonde Aztec magician. "Still obsessed with her, eh?"

"I'm not obsessed." The master of disguise said defensively, coughing into his hand and unsuccessfully hiding his blush. "I'm just…a big fan of Misaka-san, that's all."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, get up there and pay for your date." She sneered playfully.

Etzali nodded, heading up to the stage to pay the nice people behind the desk.

* * *

><p>Kamijou Touma was lost.<p>

He wasn't entirely sure just HOW that was possible, but the truth of the matter was that he was lost.

"I just wanted to use the bathroom…" He muttered, glancing down the various hallways that seemed to look exactly the same. "Is that really so hard?"

He sighed as he went over the directions in his head again. He had left the participants waiting room and turned left and then went down the hallway all the way to the end, and made a right…

Maybe he shouldn't have let Tsuchimikado drag him around earlier while he tried to get answers out of him for why he would do something like this to him.

"All in good fun, my ass…" He grumbled as he took the first hallway he saw. "Geeze…these hallways all look the same."

The unlucky boy continued to stumble around, hopelessly lost. He wasn't sure which way to go, so he decided to trust his gut as his guide.

Several minutes later, he was still as lost as ever. He would swear that he walked down the same hallway three times already.

Sighing softly, the Level 0 clenched his fist determined to get out of here.

"I know I can do this…" Touma whispered to himself quietly. "I've just gotta listen carefully."

Taking a deep breath to focus himself, he strained his ears to try and pick up ambient sound.

It didn't take long before he could hear the hooting and hollering of the audience.

Nodding his head, he quickly set off in that direction, figuring that if he could get to the audience, then he would be able to find his way back to the waiting room.

He was so focused on trying to get to those sounds that he never noticed the large black cord draped across the ground. Unsurprisingly, he tripped over it.

With a loud yelp of surprise, the dark spiky-haired boy stumbled onto the stage and fell facedown upon it. Unfortunately for him, he'd grabbed the curtain on his way down in a feeble attempt to try and avoid falling flat onto his face and his fall had left him with one arm in the air.

Unfortunately for him, again, it was at this point that there was an auction going on and Keniichi mistook Touma's arm in the air as a bid.

"15,000!" Keniichi yelled, pointing at Touma. "Are there any other bids?"

The room fell silent from the sudden surprise. If someone was that willing to scare them into making a bid for the young lady on the stage, then no one would bid after that.

"Going once..." People glanced around curiously at the mysterious and sudden appearance of the young man on stage.

"Going twice…" The young woman on stage wondered who the young man was.

"Sold! For 15,000 to…" The MC trailed off, wondering as to the kid's name. "What's your name kid?"

Touma groaned as he got up from the ground rubbing his forehead slightly in pain.

"Huh? Me?" Keniichi nodded. "Kamijou Touma."

There were several large gasps in the audience once Touma had identified himself. Among the gasping were a sextet of identical-looking sisters and a small cadre of strangely-dressed women.

Several more gasps followed upon seeing the badge on Touma's chest. Squeals of joy were heard immediately afterwards.

"Congratulations, Kamijou-san, for winning a date with the lovely Kongou Mitsuko!" Keniichi declared loudly, gesturing at the flustered looking Tokiwadai student. "So please step off to the side and speak with the people behind the desk to process your payment."

Touma blinked in confusion. Did…did he **REALLY** just win a date with a girl? A cute one at that too. For 15,000 yen?

Wait. 15,000!

He didn't have that type of cash on hand, but he did in his secret box under his bed. The one that he made** SURE** to have Index **NEVER** find.

The story behind that was that Ryuunosuke had sent him a check, made out for a **lot** of money, about a month after _Righteous Arm of the Devil_ had been released. The accompanying letter had mentioned something about the check being his cut of the profits from the movie sales. Touma's porn movie debut had achieved the number one spot, so Ryuunosuke had also added in a "small" bonus as thanks.

With that much money, he would've been set for a while. But he really didn't want to use it, so he kept it hidden away just in case of emergencies. Like now for instance.

Maybe they would let him run home and get the money needed to pay?

As Touma stepped off to the side, in order to try and talk to the nice people at the desk, Keniichi cleared his throat rather loudly

"Well then, next on stage is Judgment's 177th branch office's very own Shirai Kuroko!" Keniichi declared loudly. Kuroko smiled politely as she teleported onto the stage next to the MC. "Shirai-san here is a Level 4 teleporter working for Judgment. She also attends Tokiwadai middle school and is usually seen alongside Misaka-san. Is there anything you would like add, Shirai-san?"

The auburn twin tailed girl shook her head politely. It was enough for her.

This was it though. It was her last chance for a date with her Onee-sama, the one that she wanted to go out on a date with the most.

She hoped and wished that she would bid on her.

"Well, then, let's start bidding at 7,000 yen. Do I hear 7100 yen?"

Kuroko tuned out everything else as she began to search the crowd for the short haired young lady that she loved with all her heart. It didn't take her long to find her, but when she did…she felt her jaw drop.

Her precious Onee-sama was on the phone, yelling at someone amidst the shouted bids and completely ignoring her. That sight depressed Kuroko greatly.

Did Onee-sama not want to go out on a date with her? Why was she ignoring her like this? Did she not have enough mon-

That was when inspiration stuck. Maybe she didn't have enough money on her and was trying to talk to her mother into giving her more so she can buy her auction. That train of thought pleased Kuroko to no end. Maybe she really will-

"Sold! For 20,000 yen!" Keniichi roared out, pulling the Level 4 teleporter out from her own thoughts.

"Huh?" Kuroko questioned, shocked that her auction was already over. Onee-sama hadn't even made a bet for her yet!

"I hope you have a good time with your three dates, Shirai-san." The MC said genially, pointing out the three boys that had won the auction. "Up next we have…"

* * *

><p>"Well, ladies and gentlemen, we're down to our final two auctions for the evening. Keniichi said with a grin, feeling the general excitement of the room rising. "Are you all ready?"<p>

Everybody was on their toes, ready for whoever was next. Not everybody had won, but that didn't stop them. They all wanted a prize.

"Up next is the strongest of the strong, the Vector Esper himself, the strongest esper in the city…" Keniichi called out, everybody cheering loudly. "Give a big round of applause to the one, the only, the greatest! ACCCCEELLLERAAATOOOOORRR!"

The entire audience burst into loud cheers as the white haired teen hobbled onto stage, glaring at the audience. This glare was meant to get them to shut up, but it only seemed to rile them up even more.

"Now then, folks!" The MC bellowed grandly, as the Vector Esper's miscellaneous data appeared on the screen behind the two of them, for all to see. "Accelerator-san enjoys taking naps, drinking black coffee, and…is rumored to be a lolicon?"

The entire audience burst into laughter from that statement.

The great and powerful Accelerator rumored to be a lolicon? The idea alone was utterly stupid.

That didn't stop Accelerator from glaring at the MC as viciously as he could, a poisonous gaze that would've sent most normal people running for their lives.

But not Keniichi. He had a job to do…so he had to settle for nearly pissing himself in public.

"Sorry, Accelerator-san…but that's what this says…" The MC whispered, pointing at the screen behind him.

Accelerator shifted his glare back at the screen hoping that he could somehow burn the screen down with his glare. Upon reading what was on it, he sighed.

That damn line accusing him of being a lolicon was up there. He made a mental to note; whenever he found who put that line up there about him, he'd be a line paste stretching the length of the city.

But not tonight, though.

Tonight he had a bet to win.

He'd already planned several things for Yomikawa to do when he won; the only thing left to do now was to decide WHICH of them would be more fun to do.

"HA! I knew it!" A voice called out from somewhere in the audience before a loud smack followed quickly. "OW! Why?"

"Shut it crackboy."

"But hubby~, Flere, Rubix, and Asha-"

**SMACK!**

"I said shut it crackboy."

"Understood…"

The MC gave a soft chuckle before calling attention back to his self trying to get the auction back on track.

"Is there anything you'd like to say before we begin, Accelerator-san?"

Grabbing a nearby mike, he snarled, "I ain't no Goddamn lolicon, and I'll kill whoever calls me that! Start this fuckin' thing already."

"Right then, we'll start bidding at 20,000 yen. Do I hear 20,000?"

"20,000!"

"21,000!"

As the price continued to climb up, a young girl was moving among the crowd and searching for a specific group of people. She grinned as she spotted them and quickly made her way over to them.

"Hello everyone, Misaka is glad that everyone could make it. Misaka says as Misaka glances at the case in Misaka's hands."

"Hello Administrator. We are glad to see you here as well. Misaka says as she greets the Administrator with a heavy heart."

"What's going on? Misaka asks as Misaka tilts her head to side in confusion."

"I'm afraid that we have bad news for you. Misaka says with a sigh at the thought of having to break a young girls heart."

"Bad news? What bad news? Misaka asks as Misaka begins to worry."

"I'm afraid we cannot help you in your effort in purchasing Accelerator. Misaka says as she pats the Administrator's head soothingly."

"Wha-why? Misaka demands as Misaka tries to hold back her tears."

"Because we saw that the savior had come on stage with a number pin on his chest. Misaka explains in the hopes of avoiding tears."

Last Order sniffled sadly nodding her head. She could understand why the others would want to leave her like this. The chance of getting a date with the savior, to thank him personally for saving them, was not something that any of them would pass up.

But…that still didn't mean that their decision didn't hurt. The young Misaka clone had been looking forward to this event all evening.

She'd wanted to go on a date with Accelerator ever since she heard that he'd be participating. After that, when she had realized that she didn't, and most likely would never, have the amount of money needed, she had begged and pleaded the sisters to help her out. She had even promised them some pictures of Touma and cats, both alone and combined.

But now that they had left her alone, she wouldn't deliver on that promise.

"Mi-Misaka understands…Misaka says as Misaka walks away sadly, holding back her tears like a big girl."

"We are truly sorry Administrator. Misaka apologizes."

As Last Order walked, she sniffled once more trying her best to hold back the tears that threatened to spill over and were stinging her eyes.

WORST smirked gleefully as she threw up ANOTHER bid for the top spot. Why could they understand that they were going to lose? They really should just stop. There was nothing that was going to wreak the date between her and her favorite-

"Just remember our deal, nee-chan." Junior called out from behind the busty Misaka clone, making her twitch in irritation.

That's right…there was only thing; her 'mysterious' benefactor that had given her the money to spend on Accelerator.

"I know, I know." She snapped.

"Also when you win, put me up on your shoulders." Junior demanded.

"…Why…?" WORST had to wonder who this brat thought he was? He was totally uncute and a real ass.

Just like her, to be honest.

Maybe that was why she had taken a liking to the kid.

"So he can see me better and despair upon realizing what awaits him in the near future." Junior said, grinning so broadly that his fangs were bared and gleaming in the darkened auditorium. "We're going to have so much fun, nee-chan."

"Fine, whatever you say." Misaka WORST raised her hand once more ready to call out another bid when the sounds of a familiar strangled sob caught her attention.

Wonder just who was crying, she began to look around as was surprised to find Last Order. How odd; she had even heard the young girl ever since Accelerator's bidding war begun.

Sighing heavily, WORST made her way over to young girl.

"Huh, nee-chan, where are you going?" Junior called out to her, confused as to why the older girl would just up and leave suddenly. "We're so close to winning!"

"I'll be right back, brat, don't get your diaper in a bunch," WORST called back over her shoulder as she headed towards the young Misaka clone. "What's wrong, Last Order? Why aren't you up there bidding?"

Last Order glanced up at WORST as the tears she had been holding back for so long finally falling.

"The-the others left Misaka to make a bid for the Savior. Misaka explains as she tries to wipe away her tears."

The older-looking Misaka nodded, feeling the barest hints of sympathy for the younger girl. She could understand how the young girl was feeling.

Last Order had spent days talking to the others on the network, begging and pleading. So when they finally agreed, the young girl was just a bundle of energy and excitement. Glancing up at the young man on stage, WORST sighed deeply before turning towards Last Order once more.

"You really want this, don't you?" she asked roughly. The young girl nodded, sniffling softly. Popping her neck, WORST demanded "How much do you have?"

The crying girl held out a single 10,000 yen bill; all the money that Yomikawa had given her earlier that day.

"That it?" Last Order nodded once more.

WORST sighed as she glanced at the albino esper on stage, knowing that she'd probably regret this.

Upon seeing the last line of info, however, the one stating that he was a rumored lolicon, she smirked.

She could make this work for her and Last Order. Oh the despair that would befall the young man.

"Come on brat, we got us an auction to win." The older Misaka clone declared, grabbing the young girl's hand and pulling her back up to the front where Junior stood waiting, glaring at her.

"Where have you been? The auction's almost over." Junior growled. He hadn't gathered up a million yen just to lose.

"I got us some reinforcements, brat." WORST said, her lips curing into a leering grin. Junior raised an eyebrow at the older girl before glancing at the young girl she had brought along with her. His face flushed red as he stared at the young girl.

She…she was cute, he decided as his heart beat wildly. He shook his head, trying to clear his head of such thoughts at the moment. He had an auction to win.

"Fine, but hurry up."

"As you wish, young master~." Misaka WORST teased as she held up both hers and Last Order's hands up high and called out loudly. "910,000!"

Silence fell upon the audience as a light fell upon the two sisters. Accelerator glared at the older Misaka clone, pissed that she'd try something like this, but his glare instantly softened upon seeing Last Order.

"Ah…alright, are there any other bids?" No one said a word beyond a few whispers wondering just HOW the two sisters had gathered up such a large amount of money. "Going once…"

"Going twice…" The older Misaka clone could feel her pride swell up inside; well, that and just plain evil thoughts on what she'd be doing later.

"SOLD! To the cute sister combo for 910,000 yen!" Keniichi yelled out, as cheers, applause, and hollering were hot on his heels.

The busty Misaka clone smirked as she squat down, letting the blonde haired boy climb up onto her shoulders. As she stood up, she could feel Accelerator's glare directed upon her, but also upon the boy on her shoulder.

"You…" Accelerator growled out, rage building up inside just from the sight of the brat on the bigger brat's shoulders. "…what're you doing here?"

"Hello… brother dear," Junior chuckled. "We're going to have SOOO much fun later…"

Accelerator growled, almost tempted to flick his collar on and take out the blonde brat having him become a shooting star, just like his damned father. He decided against it because he worried that maybe it'd scar Last Order.

He settled for just glaring at the two lousy brats as they stepped on stage to pay. He could tell that nothing good was going to come from his dates with them, though the date Last Order might make it better.

Maybe.

Keniichi chuckled softly as he turned to look at the crowd once more.

"Well, then, ladies and gentleman, it's time for the FINAL auction of the night." People murmured wondering **WHO** was going to follow the number one esper in the city. Some guessed that the auction would just fail horribly and go cheap. "So please come on stage, Kamijou Touma!"

People applauded politely as Touma stepped on stage, several squeals of excitement could be heard.

"Welcome back on stage, Kamijou-san." Keniichi greeted as he glanced at his PDA. Apparently, there was no info for him to say, so he figured that letting the boy speak for himself was fine and dandy. "Do you have anything you would like to say before we begin?"

"Uh…" The spiky-haired boy began, nervous butterflies in his stomach. "…I don't have much beyond that I hope I have a nice time with someone…I guess?"

The MC chuckled politely. "Interesting choice of words, I suppose. Well then, why don't we start at 100 yen?"

A hundred yen was the lowest starting bid for **ANYONE** of the evening. That amount depressed Touma, but what he didn't know was that he wouldn't be depressed for too long.

"200!"

"300!"

"400!"

"500!"

His price continued to increase. Apparently, the young man on stage seemed to have a veritable amount of fans in the audience. Although…it didn't seem that there was much…at least not yet.

Himegami sighed happily as she stared at her hero on stage. So **THIS** is what Kumokawa-sempai meant by the real show. She'd be a fool if she let a chance like this pass her by.

"…I'm going Fukiyose-san." Himegami declared before rushing forward leaving her friend stunned.

"O-oi! Himegami! Wait up!" Fukiyose called out, trying to keep up with her friend's almost inhuman speed. "Are you **REALLY** going to be on him?"

Himegami nodded, turning to face Touma with a small happy smile on her face. Seeing her face, Fukiyose sighed before smiling at her friend.

"Well, I suppose that there's no use in trying to stop you." The 'Iron Wall' girl said as she took a glance at her classmate on stage. Part of her noticed a strange tightening feeling in her chest as she stared at him. "Y-you'd better expect me not to help bid on him…"

Himegami chortled somewhat before nodding. "I understand, though your tsundere like response doesn't give you much credit."

Deep Blood smiled as she turned back towards the stage and raising her hand up high yelling, "1,500!"

Misaka Mikoto smirked as she watched the people bid desperately for a chance with the idiot up on stage. Shortly after he had appeared on stage during Kongou-san's auction and she realized that he was up on the table for auction, she knew she had to make a phone call.

In spite of her mother's incessant teasing about why her daughter needed the money; Misaka Misuzu had agreed to let her daughter use 200,000 yen for the date auction. With that much money in her account, she knew she had this thing in the bag, now all she needed to do was be patient and wait.

"Onee-sama," A voice said from behind her.

Spinning around to see who was calling her, she came face to face with not just one but SIX identical looking faces mirroring her own.

"Ara, 10032-chan, what's up?"

"We have a proposition to make. Misaka says holding up a briefcase."

"What kind of deal?" Misaka stared intently at her sister. She wasn't going to give up here so easily.

"We wish to purchase the savior, but we realized we need more help in doing so, Misaka states in the hopes of convincing the original."

"So you want to combine forces in order to get him?"

The six Misaka clones nodded their heads at once.

Misaka mumbled to herself as she considered her options. On one hand, she didn't really want to share with anyone. But if she didn't share, there could be a chance that she'd lose the bid war and miss out on this chance. Then again, she should be good big sister to them and let them join up with her. Plus, with what they could potentially have, they could blow anyone else out of the water.

The pros outweighed the cons, so Misaka had no other choice, but to take their offer.

But first she had to find out how much they had to bring to the table.

"…Alright, I'll take your offer. How much do you guys have?"

"We have 100,000 yen currently. Misaka reports and wondering how much the original has brought with her in return."

Mikoto grinned proudly at her sister's strange way of speaking. "With your 100,000 and my 200,000, we **should** be able to beat anyone else and win…barring any unforeseen circumstances that cause the price to skyrocket."

* * *

><p>Deep in the Windowless Building, Aleister Crowley smirked as he watched the auction slowly winding down, the price for Imagine Breaker settling comfortably around 30,000 yen.<p>

The amount of money that Kamijou Touma was going for, at the moment, was far more than what even he had expected, but still within his plans.

His eyes flickering across several screens, Crowley gave a faint smile of pleasure as he remote activated the program he had Musujime upload earlier to the computers mainframe.

This program was nothing more than a simple information packet that would upload itself to Haruno's PDA when the power surged.

The **REAL** fun was just about to begin.

* * *

><p>Keniichi blinked worriedly as the power shut off for a few seconds before turning back as if nothing had happened. His PDA pinged loudly, informing of a message for him. Checking it out, he was surprised to see that there indeed WAS info for the participant on stage.<p>

How strange.

Why didn't they send this to him earlier?

Maybe it was just a ploy by the directors of the auction in an attempt to try and drive the sales up.

No matter. He tapped his screen a few times before the screen powered up and displaying the info on the screen behind him for all to see.

"Well ladies and gentlemen…" the MC began, the bidding pausing for the moment. "Apparently, I have just been sent some info on Kamijou-san. Let's see what they have to say about him, shall we?"

People began to listen to intently.

This HAD to be good stuff right?

Maybe he was important?

Maybe he had some super special awesome ability.

"Kamijou-san here enjoys a good video game or two, hanging with his friends on lazy Sundays and…" Keniichi read aloud. "Is known as Kamiko Touka in the highly rated adult film _'Righteous Arm of…the…Devil…'_"

As Keniichi trailed off at the end, he slowly turned to look at the boy…no, at the **MAN**…beside him, his eyes wide in shock.

Silence filled the room as every eye in the room turned to look at the **MAN** on stage.

They couldn't believe it.

**HE** was the guy that people had gone crazy over?

The one that people spent **AGES** on trying to figure out just **WHO** he really was.

Now, here he was.

On stage, and…

up for auction.

Touma groaned pitifully as his let his head fall into his hands, hiding his beet red face.

That was it.

His life was over. He'd be ostracized from everyone and they would just look at him weirdly.

"Such misfortune…" He whispered, his hands cradling his head.

"Is…is this **TRUE**, Kamijou-san?" The older gentleman asked. He **HAD** to find out. He was a **HUGE** fan of that movie. "Are you **REALLY** Kamiko Touka?"

"I didn't want people to find out about this…" Touma groaned, his face hot and red from sheer embarrassment. Index was going to kill him, never mind how his parents would react. "Not like this… "

"So it **IS** true then?" Touma could only nod his head numbly. His life was over and would **NEVER** be normal again…at least by Academy City standards.

"You heard it here folks!" Keniichi roared loudly, excited that he was next to a star, and a PORN star at that. "Kamijou Touma-san is **NONE OTHER **than Kamiko Touka!"

The silence that had dominated the entire room was replaced by not only thunderous applause and general mayhem, but also howls of joy, anger, hate, and excitement. Apparently, everybody in the room had one reaction or another to this news.

Some men felt pride for knowing that this **MAN** on stage was able to bag one of the hottest, if not **THE **hottest, adult film star in Japan.

Other men felt anger, hate, and rage. Mainly because they knew the boy personally and that he'd say that he had the worst luck on a daily basis and had continue to say it even **AFTER** the movie.

The women on the other hand…their reactions were almost like the men, save for a special few.

Misaka Mikoto, having only a few scenes from the entire movie, blushed heavily as she vividly remembered that particular clip. Her face was so red that steamed poured out of her ears, and she seemed that was almost ready to pass out.

Thankfully, her six sisters made sure that their 'older sister' didn't fall down and pass out. While having already known about their savior's involvement in the film, they still blushed as they recalled the adult scenes that they'd obsessively watched frame-by-frame. They'd wanted to be sure that the Savior was in that movie, after all.

Index, never having known about this little incident **AT ALL**, turned scarlet. Her fangs were bared, ready and willing to sink themselves into Touma's head as punishment for participating in **THAT** type of film.

Kanzaki Kaori, Agnese Sanctis, and Itsuwa were red-faced like everyone else. Still, they'd stand their ground, ready and more than ever willing to make their bid for Touma. They'd need to be in confession for several hours, repenting for their so called 'sins' afterwards…

Orsola Aquinas, being more of a space case than her associates, blushed furiously and shook her head mumbling quietly to herself, "No, no, Kamijou-san…not there.."

But out of all these women, there was none more shocked then Fukiyose Seiri. The 'Iron Wall' girl was scared, surprised, and actually kinda happy upon hearing the news.

Naturally, she was mortified to find out that the man she'd been pining for, ever since she had seen that movie, was actually the one guy in her class who she had talked to on a (almost) daily basis.

The large breasted girl was conflicted. She didn't know whether or not to jump for joy in being able to **FINALLY** meet the man she had been wanting, or to slug Kamijou Touma in the face for playing with her feelings like this, in spite of the fact that he had no clue that he had done anything to her.

Unfortunately for all of them, this shocking bit of revelation had not only failed to stop the bidding, but also reignited the audience's passion.

A massive all-out brawl promptly erupted for the right to go out with the man on stage.

Fists flew, kicks were thrown, and catfights were quick to erupt…well, the list goes on and on.

But it didn't take long for people to form groups and start throwing out their bids once more.

"50,000!"

"60!"

"70!"

"Short hair!" A voice called out, catching the Electroshock princess off guard. There was only **ONE** person in the entire city that called her that.

"I keep telling you…It's Mi-sa-ka Mi-ko-to!" the level 5 Railgun shouted as she turned to look at the silver-haired nun to her left. "What do you want?"

"I heard you and your…" Index said looking at the six Misaka clones trying to find to the right word to say. "...Sisters…are grouping up to try and get Touma."

"Yeah? What of it?"

"I want in." The gluttonous nun said with a sharp look in her eye.

Misaka raised an eyebrow at the nun in white. "Do you have any money?"

Index nodded as she pulled off her cap and reached into it. Pulling out the small wad of cash, she held it out to the Railgun.

"Is this enough?"

The short haired young lady raised an eyebrow as she took the offered cash and began to count it quickly. Apparently, the young nun had about 50,000 yen on hand.

How she held onto that much money all this time without spending, Mikoto did not know or care.

The problem now was whether or not to actually let Index into the group. She definitely had the money, but did she **REALLY** want to let the group grow larger than what it was now? She knew that she probably should, just to ensure that she would win this auction.

"Come on, Short Hair." Index called out grumpily, frustrated that the Tokiwadai student was taking so long to decide. If she didn't hurry, the auction would be over. "We don't have all night."

"Fine fine, you're in." Mikoto said crossing her arms. As much as she didn't want to have to share any more than she needed, it was better in the end.

"Good, now how much-"

"Index-san?" a voice called out interrupting the nun. "Is that you Index-san?"

Index whirled about, spotting Itsuwa, Kanzaki, Orsola, and Agnese. Itsuwa was the one that had called over. The small group of four Necessarius members made their way over to them.

"Itsuwa-san! Kanzaki-san! What a surprise to see you both here." Index exclaimed, smiling as she greeted the four them with a bow. "What are you doing here?"

"We're here for the auction." Kanzaki Kaori said as she glanced at the stage, a very faint blush on her face. "That's it really."

"I thought we were here to try and make a bid for Kamijou-san, Kanzaki-san?" The large-breasted blonde nun, Orsola Aquinas, said with an innocent look on her face.

"Oh, you're here for Touma too?" The silver haired nun asked. "Would you guys care to join us? I can get you in our group if you got enough money."

"…Are you sure that's such a good idea though?" Agnese asked, taking in the large amount of people around them. "If we're all after the same thing, then aren't we enemies?"

"That's true, but sometimes even enemies need to pair to obtain victory against a greater enemy." Itsuwa offered before blushing as the others stared at her. "Di-did I say something wrong?"

"No…what you was right." Kanzaki sighed, motioning towards the large amount of people surrounding them. "So…I think we'll have to take you up on your offer."

"Great, I'll just-"

"Excuse me…" Another voice called interrupting the group. "I couldn't help but overhear you talking about making up a group to try and purchase Kamijou-san."

Index took a look to her left before she smiled broadly. Himegami and her friend Fukiyose had approached them.

"Oh, Himegami," The silver haired nun nodded towards Deep Blood. "What's up?"

"We, Fukiyose and myself would like to join…if that's all right?"

"O-oi! Himegami!" Fukiyose hissed, her face flushing red. "What're you saying? I didn't agree to this!"

Himegami gave her only close friend a friendly smile. "You may not have said it, but I've noticed that you have wanted to join in…so why not?"

The large-breasted faux class rep only glared at her friend briefly before sighing and nodding her head, her friend's words ringing true for her. It wasn't that she didn't **WANT** to bid, it was just that it was too embarrassing for her after always trying to deny anything related to the boy.

"Fine…I'll throw in 40,000…" Fukiyose mumbled, pulling out the cash from her wallet and handing it over to the black haired girl.

"See? Was that so hard?" The vampire-killing priestess turned high school student asked before turning back to Index. "So can we?"

As Index opened her mouth once more, **ANOTHER** voice called out to them.

"If you're going to let them in, then let me join in as well." The voice said, stepping out from behind Fukiyose with a playful smirk on her lips. "I'll contribute a good chunk."

"Kumokawa-sempai?" Himegami raised an eyebrow. "Is this what you meant earlier? That this being the real show?"

"Hehe…yeah." The third-year giggled. "Pretty interesting, isn't it?"

Turning to look at the Nun in white and clothes pin, she gave a friendly smile.

"So? Can I join up then?"

"Hrmm…" Index growled, debating on whether or not to actually let the girl join.

"I'll offer 80,000 yen as my contribution." Kumokawa offered, holding out a stack of small bills.

"…All right. You're all in." Index shrugged. "Let's go let short hair now about you all."

As the now-somewhat large group met up with Misaka Mikoto again, she nearly blew a gasket at how many more people had joined up, thanks to the gluttonous nun. But she quickly calmed down when she learned just how much money that each of one of them was willing to contribute towards the group total.

"Ok…let me get this straight…." The 3rd Level 5 said as she rubbed her temples as she decided to go over each person's contribution starting. "You're contributing 50,000."

The silver-haired girl nun nodded her, her arms crossed over her chest. She was a tad upset with short-hair by now. What did it matter how many people joined? As long as she got to go on a date with Touma, she'd be fine.

Pointing to the small group of foreign woman, Misaka demanded. "You four are putting up 200,000?"

The tall big breasted girl with the pony tail nodded her head in confirmation.

Turning to the three local high school girls from that idiot's school, she sighed softly. "…and you three are adding 170,000?"

All three girls nodded their heads, one of them smirking at Touma who seemed to be growing more and more nervous on stage.

"…And you…" Mikoto whispered glaring at the red haired twin girl that had hurt Kuroko so badly. "…you want to add 20,000?"

Musujime Awaki just smirked as she nodded. "Hey now, with all of here, we're up to quite a pretty penny. I don't think anyone here is going to be able to out bid us."

As much as she hated to admit it, the teleporter was right; especially with the final two people helping.

"Saten-san…" The Level 5 said politely to her good friend. "…you want in and are willing to add 10,000?"

"Hehe…" Ruiko giggled, nodding with embarrassment. She didn't understand entirely just **WHY** she had joined up; maybe it was because she wanted to get know the man on stage a tad better. Maybe it was because she wanted to help out a good friend was trying so hard.

Turning to glare at the final person who had joined up, she couldn't help but hate that the young woman had not only her face, but also a MUCH bigger bust line then what she did.

"Why are you even here? You've already won a date with someone else."

"Maybe because I wanted to see just how much pissed off he'd get if I went out with the guy he hates the most," Misaka WORST said, smirking darkly as she crossed her arms under her large chest.

What she said was true, though. She still had some money left from Junior's "venture" and he had no problem with her spending it how she fit…as long as he got to spend some time getting to know his new "friend", Last Order. She **did** want to see how angry the teen could get, maybe making some teasing comments before he snapped and tried to kill the Hero.

"If you don't want me, here…then maybe I'll go and make my own group **MUCH** larger than yours, and win. How's that, hmm?" The buxom short-haired girl teased.

This was so much fun. Pushing her "younger" self's buttons was **so** easy.

Misaka sighed deeply. As infuriating WORST was, she was still her sister. Plus, an extra 100,000 yen meant that there was absolutely no way that they could lose.

"Fine fine…you can join." She said, shaking her head. "So, much are we up to so far?"

"860,000 yen." Index said immediately. Having a perfect memory at times was great, but at others…it was a curse. She flushed red as she remembered the time she'd accidentally walked in on Touma in the bath.

"Right…" Taking a deep breath, she turned to the others. "Are you guys ready?"

Everybody nodded their heads in unison. It was now or never.

"Let's do this then." As they raised their hands all at once, they yelled in chorus. "860,000!"

The entire audience fell silent as they all turned to look at the group of young women that had made such an audaciously large bid.

Nobody knew what to say.

They weren't sure there was anyone left that could match that bet…

Sadly, there still were people that could do just that.

"900,000!" A lone voice called out, louder than the rest.

Once more, nobody said a word. The woman that had made the latest bid now pulled off her hat and undid her jacket, letting her bountiful bust bounce freely and her blonde hair fall past her shoulders from its bun. There was something familiar about the smirking blonde beauty, but nobody could tell just-

"A-Aoi-san?" Touma sputtered, shocked. How…how did she know he was going to be here?

But in the absolute silence that had befallen the auditorium, Touma's squawk of surprise might as well have been an air horn next to a dog's ear.

That was it.

That's where people knew her from.

This busty blonde beauty was the illustrious and gorgeous Hayashi Aoi, who'd been Kamijou Touma's partner and costar in _Righteous Arm of the Devil_, and a major contribution to its immense popularity.

"Hi Touma-kun~…" Aoi cooed, smiling confidently and giving him a flirty wave. "I hope that you're doing well."

"I-I am…" He mumbled, his heart beating furiously at the sight of the lovely older woman that taken his virginity. She'd only become more beautiful since the last time he'd seen her.

"That's good." She said smiling. "I can't wait till our-"

"One. Million. Yen," A sharp feminine voice called out, spooking the audience into cognition.

People whirled around to see just who had this amount of cash. The voice belonged to a tanned woman, who seemed to be about Aoi's age, and had a black bob haircut, gold earrings, and a pair of sharp blue eyes. She was staring at the people around her and seemed to be daring **ANY** of them to try and outbid her.

Aoi growled as she stared at the bob cut woman. How **DARE** this bitch try and take Touma away from her? She'd get him back, and she knew exactly how to do it; by looking around for the group that she'd outbid earlier.

Spotting them quickly, she made her way over to them, her face set in stone.

"Excuse me." She called out to the group. "But I have a question for you all: Do you REALLY want to lose to her? Because if you don't, then let's join forces. With all of our money combined as one, there is absolutely no way for us to lose."

The eighteen other women just glared at her, pissed off that she would even talk to them after screwing them over so handily. It was a perfect-justifiable reaction, but they knew that she was speaking the truth deep down.

As the group began to discuss their terms, Keniichi figured that enough time had passed and that it was time for the last call on the auction.

"Well, then…We're currently are one million yen." Keniichi said loudly. The audience knew that this was it. "Going once!"

"Going twice!" Most people had figured it was over, and while some were sad to see that Touma wouldn't be going on a date with the lovely Hayashi Aoi, others felt ecstatic that his so called "Godly Luck with Women" was going to end with only one woman.

As the group began to come together once more, Aoi raised her hand and called out loudly.

"1,760,000 yen!"

That one call quickly put to rest any doubter's thoughts on Touma's "Godly Luck with Women" and only put him on a **MUCH** higher pedestal now.

"R- right…" Keniichi stuttered, still blown away that the unassuming Kamijou Touma could be **THIS** popular. When the bids had first started, he didn't seem anything special, perhaps something that the directors had whipped up in order to end the auction on a low note.

But now that idea was completely changed.

Apparently they'd saved the **VERY**best for last. "We're currently at 1.76 million yen! Are there any other bids?"

No one said a word. The nineteen women kept their fingers hoping and praying for the best. This was it, though; their last hurdle. If they could outbid the woman that had appeared at the last moment, then Touma would be theirs.

"Going once…" The tan woman glared at the girls, more especially at Aoi.

"Going Twice…" The tan woman snorted loudly as she stomped away, angry that she had lost the man she had fallen in love with all those weeks ago.

Now that she'd found out his identify, however, she'd pull down her request and try again later. Maybe then, she'd have a better chance at him then.

"SOLD! For 1.76 MILLION Yen!" Keniichi roared, the entire audience bursting into cheers and applause excited that it was FINALLY over. "Congratulations, Kamijou Touma! You have not only sold for the **HIGHEST** amount of money all evening, but you singlehandedly more dates of anyone else at tonight's auction! I truly envy you,son, and I do hope that you and your dates have fun."

Touma chuckled weakly as he nodded. He could feel them again, eyes…lots of them. All focused on him and him alone. Slowly turning towards the group that had won him, he could see all those hungry eyes. He gulped, slowly took a step back as each woman walked over to him circling him.

"Uhh…hi…." He ventured weakly, blushing faintly. "So…how is everyone?"

"Well Touma…" Index said as she slid up to his side and wrapped herself around one arm, a vicious look in her eyes. "I think we **ALL**need to have a discussion with you."

"Exactly right," Misaka Mikoto agreed, sliding up to his other side and wrapping herself around his other arm. Touma twitched as he noticed her eyes promising plenty of pain if he didn't come with them right then and there."Let's all go somewhere more private and talk, shall we? We'll talk about many things… your movie, for instance."

Touma gulped, that feeling of fear welling up in his stomach again.

This…would not end well for him.

Not one bit.

There was nothing that he could do as he was dragged away by the two smaller girls, the rest of the others following in their wake, some hoping that they could avoid having Touma hurt.

As Accelerator watched Touma being dragged away, he couldn't help but growl. That damn hero made him lose the bet. How the flying fuck was **HE** so popular with women?

The Level 5 Vector Esper frowned as he turned to leave, but came face to face with his large-breasted roommate and guardian. More to the point, his face was buried deep into the Marshmallow Mountains; a position that many of Yomikawa's male coworkers would've killed to be in.

Yomikawa chuckled as she pulled him free. "Well, well, well…" she taunted him, keeping her hands on his shoulders. "**Someone's **lost a bet."

"Get the fuck outta my way, you big-breasted hag." Accelerator snarled, trying to shove the woman's hands off of him. But she had quite the grip on him.

"Ohh no, no, no…" The Anti-Skill captain said as she pulled him close. "**You** seemed to have forgotten the matter of our little wager, did you not?"

"Like hell I'll keep that to damn wager." The albino spat, his glare at full power. It seemed to have absolutely no effect on the taller woman. "You can take that bet and shove it."

"Then you don't mind if I tell Last Order that you don't keep your word, do you?" Yomikawa sneered. "If she can never trust you with promises, it'll break her little heart."

Accelerator kept quiet as he stared at the woman. He wasn't quite sure on whether or not she was bluffing, but…if it involved keeping that damn brat happy and quiet at times…

"Fuckin' fine!" He yelled, much to the delight of the blue haired woman. "I'll do the damn community service, just leave me the fuck alone."

"Good, good…but remember." Yomikawa said , releasing the young teen. "It's not community service; it's volunteer work."

The Strongest Esper rolled his eyes as he stalked away, sulking that not only had he lost the bet, but that he'd been forced into working with Judgment for two weeks without pay. This night could **NOT** get any worse…

"Oh 'Brother'~, where are you?" The sound of a young boy called out, his voice full of naughtiness. "We wish to talk to you."

"Yeah…come out Accelerator! Misaka calls out as Misaka looks for him."

Accelerator growled as he cursed himself for tempting fate like that.

He quickly ran, hoping to find a nice quiet spot to sulk. At least for tonight he hoped.

Overall, the entire auction was a MAJOR success.

All 5 Level 5 espers had sold off for a good chunk of change.

Judgment and Anti-Skill themselves had made a large amount of money themselves.

But the REAL diamond of the evening was Kamijou Touma.

Crowley smirked as he counted up the complete total. The auction had come to about 4.5 million yen.

A good amount and plenty for him to give out to Judgment, Anti-Skill, and the Child Errors while keeping the rest of it for himself and his plans.

What the people did on their dates did not concern him.

If he was bored, maybe he would check in on Touma and his dates.

That unlucky boy was always fun to watch.

The only question now was… who was going to go first?

_**End of 'A Certain Date Auction'.**_

* * *

><p>Well, that's it. I hope you all enjoyed this fic. I have put a lot of time and effort into this, so I do hope that you have found it enjoyable and entertaining.<p>

This was an...interesting...endevour. I originally did not want to do this, but after a few encouraging words from others, and some ideas thrown around, I finally got it up and running properly.

So thank you for all that have stuck around till the ending patiently waiting and hoping to see it all come to a head and an end. I do hope that it was worth the wait.

I don't think I'll be working on any TAMnI fics in the near future, but I'll probably come back if I can find the right inspiration.

Once more, thank you for sitting through my fic and that I hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
